
Class b. \^4" 

Goijyriglit}j°_ 



COEffilGHT DEPOSm 



Theories of Americanization 

A Critical Study 

With Special Reference to the 'Jewish Group 



ISAAC B. BERKSON, Ph.D. 

Supervisor of Schools and Extension Activities of the Bureau of 

Jewish Education; formerly Executive Director 

of the Central Jewish Institute 



Teachers College, Columbia University 
Contributions to Education, No. 109 



Published by 
u^^arljtprfl (HaVit^t. Cobtmbta Hntb^rHtty 

New York City 
1920 






Copyright, 1920, by Isaac B. Berkson 



^1" f ^"13 



MAy 16 1921 
0)CIA614476 



To THE MeMOBT 
OF 

Mt Teacher 

ISRAEL FRIEDLAENDER 

Interpreter between Past and Present, 
East and West, Israel and America 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

This book has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the require- 
ments for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Faculty of 
Philosophy, Columbia University. Such acceptance, it is under- 
stood, indicates a judgment only in reference to quality of work; it 
does not imply that the views expressed are sanctioned by the Univer- 
sity authorities or by the members of the committee which passed 
upon the dissertation. For the point of view presented, the writer 
must bear the sole responsibility. 

I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness and to express my sincere 
thanks to my teachers in Columbia University; to Professor John 
Dewey, whose inspiration and encouragement led me to undertake the 
writing; to Dr. Isaac L. Kandel, Associate in Education, for many 
valuable suggestions; and especially to Dr. William H. Kilpatrick, 
Professor of the Philosophy of Education, who has given me at every 
point painstaking, constructive, and clarifying criticism. Of my 
associates, I wish to thank Dr. A. M. Dushkin, now secretary of the 
Vaad Hahinuch in Palestine, and Dr. Julius Drachsler, Assistant 
Professor of Sociology at Smith College, for what I learned from our 
many discussions as well as for their criticism of various parts of the 
study. I am grateful to Mr. Sol Bluhm for giving me unstintingly of 
his time in the revision of the manuscript and in the reading of proof. 
There are many other friends to whom thanks are due for helpful 
services. 

My deepest debt of gratitude is due the Bureau of Jewish Educa- 
tion, brought into being by the will and genius of its director, Dr. 
Samson Benderly. Ten years of close association with him and this 
work have given me an unexampled opportunity to gain an insight 
into Jewish affairs, a sense of discipline in organization, a technique in 
practical work. Most of all, through the Bureau of Jewish Education 
I have had the rare and profound experience of conversation and 
comradeship with a group of men and women, teachers and co-work- 
ers, devoted through many trials, with single-mindedness and purity 
of purpose, to the practical realization of a spiritual ideal. 

Isaac B. Bbbkson 
October, 1920 



CONTENTS 

PART I 

Introductory 1 

I. The Doctrines of Democracy 9 

1. The Scope of Democracy; 2. The Basis of Democracy; 
3. The Quintessence of Democracy; 4. The Criteria of 
Democracy; 5. Democracy and Minorities. 

II. Theories of Ethnic Adjustment 49 

1. The Jews — A Minority Ethnic Community; 2. The 
'Americanization' Theory; 3. Americanization as Like- 
mindedness; 4. The 'Melting Pot' Theory; 5. The 'Feder- 
ation of Nationalities' Theory. 

III. The 'Community' Theory 97 

1. The Cultural Basis of the 'Community' Theory; 2. Its 
Relation to the Family; 3. Its Relation to Zionism; 4. 
Variability in Retention of the Ethnic Heritage. 

IV. The Value of Ethnic Groups 121 

1. The Basis of Evaluation; 2. Sincerity of Outlook; 3. 
Loyalty to a Minority; 4. Multiple Culture Loyalty; 
5. The Hebrew Language and Literature; 6. Jewish His- 
tory; 7. The Jewish People — An Internation. 

PART II 

V. The Relation of Ethnic and Church Schools to the 

State 147 

1. Sect and Ethnos; 2. The Parochial School; 3. Re- 
ligious Instruction in the State Schools; 4. Supplementary 
Ethnic and Religious Schools. 



Vin THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

VI. The Central Jewish Institute — A Jewish Community 

Center 177 

1. Its Significance as an Agency of Ethnic Adjustment; 

2. Neighborhood and History; 3. The Building; 4. Con- 
trol and Administration; 5. The Plan of Work (a) Talmud 
Torah; (6) Jewish Extension Work; (c) Social, Civic and 
General Activities. 

Selected References 225 



INTRODUCTORY 

The problem of proper adjustment of the foreign ethnic groups 
in our midst to the life of America — ^popularly termed "Americaniza- 
tion" — was a subject of great interest even before the War. Now, in 
the aftermath, a heightened national consciousness has made of this 
question one of those burning issues which it is difficult, nay im- 
possible, to discuss without stirring deep prejudices. Patriotism 
intensified by the experience of war immediately conjures up the 
spectre of foreign intrigue whenever the subject of the unassimilated 
immigrant is broached. In addition, the problem has become 
associated in men's minds with the whole discussion of internal 
political and industrial reorganization which seems to many to 
threaten the stability of present forms of government. Closely 
linked with the fear of foreign enemies and with the apprehension of 
"Bolshevistic" revolution, it is small wonder that much of what is 
said nowadays concerning "Americanization" savors of hysteria. 

It may be urged that in such critical times as these only drastic 
measures are expedient. Our own recent experiences in the war, 
however, have sufficiently demonstrated that even in those moments 
when the need for action seems most urgent a decision which reckons 
with the fundamental principles involved serves not only justice 
and the right, but also in the end the practical. The war was won 
only because men had come to believe that they were fighting for a 
basic principle — for democracy.^ A careful analysis with reference 
to fundamental principles becomes all the more necessary because our 
problem is a pressing one. What are the implications of democracy 
for the relations of foreign ethnic groups to the state .^ This question 
requires clear thinking, because we should seek to be true to the 
fundamental concept of American thought; the correct answer will 
avert failure in the practical task confronting us. 

This book attempts a critical study of our question with special 
reference to the problem of the Jewish group. What place has the 

^Likewise, if in the end the hope for a lasting peace shall prove to have been empty, 
it •wUl be because the fundamental principles, the proclamation of which had won the 
war, were forgotten in the final settlement. 



2 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

Jewish group in our democracy? May it retain its identity or must it 
fuse entirely with the total group? Second, if it may retain its identity, 
under what limitations and through what agencies may it do so? These 
are the questions which must concern us in any consideration of the 
problem of the relationship of ethnic groups to the state. While, 
therefore, our specific interest is the Jewish group, the whole discus- 
sion is in the main applicable — with the proper qualifications — to 
other ethnic groups. Especially will this be true because the dis- 
cussion here deals mainly with the general principles which should 
govern the relationship, not with the description of the actual pro- 
cesses of assimilation taking place in this particular group. The fact 
that the Jews are not only an ethnic group, but also a cultural and 
religious community, enhances the appropriateness of using it in 
our discussion to elucidate the general problem. For this very 
reason the Jews, as the following pages will make clear, present a 
crucial case where the significant elements are thrown into distinct 
relief. 

Perhaps it is not superfluous to state plainly that the conclusions 
offered in reference to the Jewish group are in the main precedent to 
the argument presented here. No pretense is made that they are 
the result of theoretical analysis alone. This discussion is a rationali- 
zation of a point of view derived from the writer's personal history 
and experiences and confirmed by subsequent study and speculation. 
It represents an attempt to clarify, to make explicit, and to intro- 
duce the balance of reason into a conviction which has been many 
years in the forming, rather than an effort to contrive a conclusion 
out of the objective study of abstract premises. 

The whole argument rests upon the assumption that the United 
States aims to be a democracy. The discussion may be conceived 
as an explication of the significances inherent in that term for the 
relations of ethnic groups to the state in the conditions prevailing 
in the United States. Since the word 'democracy' has come to be 
used as a general term of approval and each man tends to see in it 
his own ideal, it will be necessary first to give some notion of what 
the writer implies in the assumption. The first chapter, then, will 
deal with an analysis of the basic concept, democracy. After this 



INTRODUCTORY 3 

orientation the following chapters will consider the various types of 
ethnic relationship possible, reviewing them with the fundamental 
notion in mind and developing finally that plan which seems to 
harmonize best with the basic concept. The concluding chapters 
will deal with the implications of the proposed method of adjustment 
for the educational situation. There is added a chapter on the Cen- 
tral Jewish Institute, an institution which will serve as a basis of 
discussion for the type of educational agency conceived as adequate 
and proper in a democracy for the solution of oiu* problem. The 
description of this institution will furnish a concrete illustration of 
the implication of the theory projected and will serve as a check upon 
the meaning of the more abstract discussion. 

The discussion, then, while setting out to consider the question 
before us from the point of view of principles involved rather than 
from the point of view of expediency or the seeming immediate need, 
nevertheless at no point leaves out of consideration the actual situa- 
tion and offers an opportunity for comparison of the moral conclusion 
with the practical feasibility. 



PART I 
I THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 
II THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 

III THE 'COMMUNITY' THEORY 

IV THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 



/ r^er to a Democracy thai u^ yet unborn. 

— ^Walt Whitman. 



CHAPTER I 
THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACl^ 

I 

The Scope of Democracy 

Democracy has become much like an estabHshed religion; every- 
one avows it and untold sacrifices are brought in its name, yet few 
seem to have any clear idea of its profound meaning. Such is the 
complaint that is frequently met nowadays in the numerous articles 
which attempt to present to us a more adequate conception of the 
fundamental principle assumed to underlie our civilization. In 
one form or another we find reiterated, "We have repeatedly pro- 
fessed this creed on many solemn and public occasions. Do we really 
mean it.? And if so, what do we mean by it?"^ 

To most minds the term still brings primarily political connota- 
tions, and such a limitation of usage is supported by much more than 
mere philological derivation. The tendency to identify democracy 
with a method of political organization has its justification in the 
prime importance that government has for life.- Where one may 
dwell, how one is to earn a living, what a person can know and 
believe — all of these practical questions are affected by the systems 
which the state permits and supports. Political organization rather 
than prayer, we might even say, determines our salvation in any 
real sense of the word. Undoubtedly it is the recognition of the 
controlling importance of politics that has led in modern times to the 
ascendancy of the State above the Church. 

The history of the United States as an experiment in democracy 
adds much force to this emphasis on the political aspect of our life. 
Undoubtedly the democratic ideal has indirectly been a factor in the 
shaping of many phases of our social life, in the development of 

iRalph Barton Perry, "What Do We Mean by Democracy?" International 
Journal of Ethics, July, 1918. 

^Cf. Ogg and Beard, National Govemmeni and the World War, preface. 



10 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

education, in the adjustment of racial and class differences, and even 
to some extent in the reorganization of industry. The main and 
direct applications, however, have so far been governmental, and this 
tendency in the course of our history has stamped itself upon the 
meaning that the word 'democracy' carries to the average American. 

The emphasis upon the political connotation is well brought out 
if we compare the Declaration of Independence with the subsequent 
great documents of American history. From the Constitution on, 
so a leading American thinker^ points out, the epoch making docu- 
ments of American life reveal a constantly widening application of 
the concept of democracy. The preamble is inspired with the desire 
of securing the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. In 
the Monroe Doctrine the boundaries of our homeland have been 
surpassed and the European countries are warned that these hemi- 
spheres must remain inviolate. The Civil War extended the idea of 
freedom racially, proclaiming that the nation cannot remain half slave 
and half free. Our entrance into the European War was justified by 
an international aim that the world be made safe for Democracy. As 
Alexander says, "The World: Here, indeed is expansion; our globe 
has shrunk too small for democratic and autocratic states to sub- 
sist together, nor can Ocean herself constrain them in separation. 
Democracy has issued her final defiance to all the citadels of absolu- 
tism, proclaiming no longer her right to independences, nor merely 
her right to her own free field, but now her purposed supremacy in 
all fields and over all polities. Here is arrogance of pretension out- 
matching Monroe's, whose broad-limned compromise breaks futile, 
like the old compromises of North and South. Democracy claims 
for itself no less thing than the world." 

The full significance of the new epoch, however, resides not alone 
in the expansion of the concept to an international application. If 
we examine the Declaration of Independence we find there the idea 
of democracy already expressed in universal terms: "All men are 
bom free and equal and endowed by their Creator with certain 
unalienable rights." Indeed, the thought transcends even inter- 
national implication and rises to cosmic and religious terminology. 

^Hartley B. Alexander, essay "Americanism" in Liberty and Democracy, p. 131. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 11 

The aspiration for humanity's welfare is not new; it was the subject 
of the burning message of the Prophets of ancient Israel and the 
inspiration of the cosmopohtans of the eighteenth century. All 
great religions have expressed the longing for a universal good. 
The present epoch is particularly important not because for the first 
time we meet an aspiration in international terms, but because a 
tremendous effort is being made to create the political institution 
which will make possible a realization of the age-long dream. Ameri- 
can history is to be seen not as a struggle for the development of the 
idea of freedom but as an experiment with the political institutions 
that shall guarantee freedom. The entire significance of the recent 
struggle is lost if the emphasis is placed anywhere else than on the 
international governmental institution which must be created in 
order to convert the desire into a reality. The important distinction 
between a longing and a political guarantee is clearly felt and finds 
expression in the explanatory phrase following President Wilson's 
famous pronouncement: "The World must be made safe for democ- 
racy: its peace must be planted upon tested foundations of political 
liberty." 

Democracy must be embodied in political institutions; that is 
the conviction that has animated American history. Many recent 
writers/ however, while agreeing heartily with the importance of the 
political phase tend to feel that it is a grave error to identify democracy 
with principles of government exclusively. It is pointed out that 
political democracy cannot be an end in itself; it is a means of gaining 
human freedom. There are instances where the end can be reached 
more directly through reform in the industrial or educational field 
than through the agency of the ballot and political methods. Fur- 
thermore, conditions of education, of economic organization, of social 
prejudice, so affect politics that even political democracy becomes 
unattainable, if political democracy alone engages our attention. 
To limit the definition to political reform without realizing the in- 

^Hobhouse, Liberalism, see especially Chaps. II, VIII, IX; Herbert Croly, Pro- 
gressive Democracy; Walter Weyl, The New Democracy; Alfred Zimmern, The War and 
Democracy, Chap. I; Dewey, Democracy and Education; Jane Addams, Democracy 
and Social Ethics; Giddings, Democracy and Empire; MacVannel, Outlines of Philoso- 
phy of Education, Chap. IX. 



12 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

fluence of other phases of life is often to block the development of 
democracy. 

Not alone theories, events, too, urge upon us new implications 
beyond the political. With the Russian attempt at control of 
industry by the workers already in the process of experimentation 
and with an industrial unrest of unprecedented extent and turbulence 
threatening the present capitalistic order it seems necessary certainly 
to consider immediately the extension of our concept to the field of 
industry. Beyond this, still in the realm of the vague unconscious 
begins to loom the problem of the reorganization of our educational 
system, implying radical changes in fundamental conceptions, 
philosophy, aims, methods and agencies far surpassing mere pedagogi- 
cal improvements. Still there are some who maintain that we cannot 
speak of Industrial or Social Democracy, or of Democracy in the 
abstract, because we do not yet have actual examples of what these 
signify, and it is therefore impossible to know them. Such 'practical' 
minds refuse to recognize anything as existing unless a precedent 
can be found in application. It must be remembered, however, that 
the accomplishments of democracy in the political field did not wait 
for precedents. Must not the application to other phases of life 
be made with the same bold hazard (in thought and act) that carried 
through the experiment in the political field? We have certainly 
gone far beyond the primary meaning of the word 'democracy' and 
conceive its political implications as manifestations of an underlying 
and far-reaching principle full of significance for industry, education 
and the many other phases of social life.^ 

Indeed, democracy is so touched with deep emotion that even 
this broad definition in terms of a general principle applicable to 
all social institutions seems inadequate to express the fulness of 
its meaning. We feel somehow that our ideal cannot be attained by 
reorganization of institutions alone, — our most hidden and intimate 
conversations and our casual actions and relationships must be 
pervaded by a democratic spirit. It is the creation of a type of 
personality that the democratic ideal envisages. Democracy is not 

^Charles A. Elwood, "Democracy and Social Conditions in the United States," 
International Journal of Ethics, July, 1918. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 13 

only something political and institutional; its real essence is spiritual. 
Definitions in terms of a rule, of a principle, or even of a philosophy 
are too pale, too platonic, too formal, too balanced, too finite in 
meaning and in application, too static. The forces of democracy 
seem to rest in the unfathomed depths of human and world nature; 
there is something elemental in the term. It reaches upward, too, 
towards unattained heights of the spirit; it is essentially an urge — 
a dynamic force in life.^ 

Democracy is a religious aspiration as well as a form of social 
organization. Only by realizing what is implied in its final goal can 
we judge whether any particular embodiment leads in the right 
direction. However efficient our organization may seem to the mind 
that loves perfected form and judges by accepted standards, any 
activity must prove meaningless unless it serves the ultimate ideal. 
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? 
Who hath required this at your hand, to trample My courts? In- 
cense is an abomination unto Me; new moon and Sabbath, the call- 
ing of assemblies. . . . Cease to do evil: learn to do well." Thus 
cries the prophet divining that there is no service of God in the per- 
formance without the spirit, in the activity unrelated to the abiding 
aim. What is the essence of the striving we call democratic and 
what are the conditions sine qua non of its fulfillment? The answers 
to this catechism will yield us what may be called the Doctrines of 
Democracy, the inviolable assumptions which must guide us in any 
subsequent discussion. 

Often the attempt is made to define Democracy in terms of older 
ideals, such as equality, liberty or justice, etc., leaving the impression 
that the new term is little more than a new name for old aspirations. 
Such a procedure misses the point entirely. Undoubtedly old ideas 
and aspirations as well as older religions have contributed to the idea 
of Democracy. But the essential point to emphasize is that Democ- 
racy is a new synthesis, a new outlook and evaluation. To translate 
it into the older terminology robs the new concept of its unique 
character, of its specific connotations and associations, of its own 

^Walt Wliitinan, Democratic Vistas; Edward Carpenter, Towards Democracy; Oscar 
L. Triggs, Browning and Whitman, A Study in Democracy; A. G. Flack, Democracy. 



14 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

emotional driving power. A more direct examination into its 
meaning without recourse to the aid of the mediating agency of the 
familiar spirits, liberty and equality, is less likely to divest the new 
idea of its specific implications. Moreover, the error will be avoided 
of identifying democracy with a meaning derived not from itself but 
from one of its extensions, as is often done, for instance, when we con- 
fuse it with egalitarianism (from equality) or with laissez faire and 
individualism (from liberty). What we need to hold clearly in mind 
is the particular emphasis, the essential significance of the new ideal. 

II 

The Basis of Democracy 

The analysis presented below follows a hint offered by Professor 
Dewey in his suggestion that "Democracy, the crucial expression 
of modern life, is not so much an addition to the scientific and in- 
dustrial tendencies, as it is the perception of their social or spiritual 
meaning."^ What the modern development has told us of the way of 
life — our new experiences, knowledges, and ideas unified into a prin- 
ciple — that is democracy. 

Development in methods of human communication and of diffusion 
of knowledge, the discovery of the potentialities of steam and electric- 
ity, the opening up of America, mechanical inventions, expansion 
of industry, progress in popular control of government, accumulation 
of bodies of scientific fact, all these have contributed to make what 
we call modern times. But more than all of these many inventions 
is the formulation of the Doctrine of Evolution. Through it a change 
of mental attitude has come about; all our thinking has been shot 
through with an idea of movement, development, growth. Our 
sciences of man, and the expression of our ideals of man, our psy- 
chology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, ethics are undergoing 
a transformation under the influence of this powerful ferment. It 
is this idea ultimately which divides the mediaeval from the mod- 
ern, the platonic from the pragmatic, and dissolves the dualism of the 
Christian scheme of morality into the unity of the physical and the 

^"Intelligence and Morals" in The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy, p. 59. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 15 

spiritual demanded by the democratic ideal. What democracy is 
can be understood only when we recall what is fundamental in the 
modern situation, when we consider the influence exerted by the 
theory of evolution on modern thought. 

Whatever may justly be said concerning the insufficiency of the 
Doctrine of Evolution as an ultimate explanation of the genesis and 
development of the world we cannot pretend, as the obscurantists do, 
that since the Biblical and the scientific accounts are both inade- 
quate, it is immaterial which one of these we accept. The modern 
theory, it must be conceded, has wrought a fundamental change in 
our mental attitude. Previously accepted attempts at explanation 
had ended with the assumption of a preexisting conscious creator, 
who had created and who ruled the world in accordance with some 
divine plan. One idea was dominant in the minds of laymen and 
priests, of the masses and the scholars : namely, that a definite plan 
preexisted creation, that some divine purpose was to be fulfilled 
through living. Milton at the end of the Middle Ages gives us a 
classic description of this planned and delimited universe. 

He took the golden compasses, prepared 

In God's eternal store, to circumscribe 

This Universe, and all created things. 

One foot He centered and the other turned 

Round thru the vast profundity obscure. 

And said, "Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, 

Tliis be thy just circumference, world!" 

Men seeing apparent artifice and order in the world easily jump 
to the conclusion that these had been planned. The rabbinic legend 
taking advantage of this natural tendency presents the argument 
for design in a simple and telling form. "There is a story of a sceptic 
who came and said to Rabbi Akibah, 'Who created this Universe.''' 
Said the latter, 'The Holy One, Blessed be He.' 'Prove it to me,' 
said the sceptic. He was told to come the next day. When he 
presented himself on the morrow. Rabbi Akibah asked, 'What are 
you wearing?' 'A cloak,' he said. 'Who made it?' 'The Weaver.' 
*I don't believe you; prove it to me,' said the Rabbi. 'Why should 
I prove it to you, don't you know that the weaver made it?' 'And 



16 THEOEIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

you, don't you know that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created His 
Universe,' responded the Rabbi. The sceptic went off. And the 
pupils (of Rabbi Akibah) asked, 'Where is the proof?' So he said, 
'My children, just as the house implies a builder, the cloak a weaver 
and the door a carpenter, so does the Universe imply the Holy One 
Blessed be He, who created it.'" 

The sceptic, as the story tells, goes off, though we may suspect 
that he remains unconvinced. Obviously, the students who should 
understand their teacher are not persuaded at first. Perhaps the 
difficulty all along has been that those dissatisfied with the old 
explanation had no other to offer in reply. What the theory of evolu- 
tion has done is to propose a constructive suggestion concerning the 
genesis and development of our world, so that the sceptic need no 
longer be silenced for want of an answer. The new theory submits 
evidence that this wonderful scheme of things which seems to hang 
together so beautifully could have come into being without having 
been planned beforehand. It is now clearly realized that since the 
world is here, it had to arise in some manner; and that any process of 
events would seem, after the fact, as if it had been purposely planned 
to bring about what really had been the result of mere happening, 
if the process had at the same time chanced to culminate in a being 
like man who could look over and think about the course of develop- 
ment.^ The conflict between Religion and Science has ended, with 
reference to the question of cosmogenesis, with such a complete 
victory for the latter that no thinker would to-day seriously suggest 
the simple assumption so universally accepted in former times. 

Hand in hand with this dialectical dethronement of the King of 
Kings has gone an inevitable revolution in thought far more impor- 
tant than the irreverence of Use majestS. Ideas of chance variation, 
of selection and survival by adaptation to circumstance have entered 
where before Immutable Purpose perfect and complete from the 
very beginning reigned supreme. Not only has the theory of evolu- 
tion brought the notion of change and development into the explana- 
tion of forms and species; its contagion has spread and affected the 
conception of Truth, of Purpose, and of the meaning of the Universe. 

^William James, Pragmaiism, Chap. Ill, pp. 113-14. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 17 

These, also, if the Doctrine of Evolution be sincerely held and con- 
sistently applied are seen to be in the process of slow development 
with no "fixed first or final causes."^ With this introduction of 
relativity into the sphere of philosophy the fundamental notion of 
value cannot escape restatement. Among the absolutes that have 
been banished is also the conception of absolute values. 

The term 'value' is in itself a relative term and can have meaning 
only in reference to some definite point of view. What could we 
possibly mean by a good which could not be related finally to an 
existence for which it was considered beneficial.? With Socrates we 
must agree that goods which are 'just good' and not good for anything 
in particular must be good for nothing. But a value may become an 
'absolute' by being related to an existence whose good is in itself 
considered absolute. By serving a Being or Purpose or Good as- 
sumed to be absolute the ministering value too becomes absolute. 

As long as there existed in men's minds an overshadowing idea of a 
Transcendental Master of the Universe it was easy to insist on 
absolute values without disturbing the logical sense. Some sceptic 
now and then may have questioned the basic assumption, but the 
prevailing notion not only of the masses, but of scholars, writers and 
teachers was permeated with the predominating conception. Ac- 
cordingly when value or purpose or truth were spoken of, the mind 
did not immediately fly to the necessary logical question, whose or 
what value, purpose or truth; for it was tacitly understood that all 
realities were to be referred to God. So deeply embedded in the 
social psychology was the assumption of a conscious creator that the 
failure to mention the point of reference raised no problem at all; just 
as the omission of the word 'air' after 'to breathe' would disturb no 
one to-day. It was possible under the ruling conception of an 
Omniscient Creator to give to men's desires, aspirations, beliefs, 
laws and values, an eternal and absolute significance by ascribing 
their origin to the Almighty. Any interest, whether it had resulted 
from social experience and traditional practice or represented the 
desires of the powerful, received the sanction of a sacred value, 
if it could in some way be established that it had its origin in a revela- 

*Dewey, The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy, Chap. I. 



18 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

tion from the deity. Indeed, carrying this doctrine to its logical 
conclusion (which Samuel Butler tells us is very bad for any doctrine) 
nothing had value except as it was from God and in the degree that 
it served ad maiorem dei gloriam. "Man was swallowed up in the 
plan of God." 

So when the Doctrine of Evolution spread, not only among the 
few philosophical, but to the more influential class of writers, poets, 
teachers and students, undermining the accepted assumption of a 
conscious creator, the whole system of absolute values and the notion 
of a teleological plan of the universe lost the powerful support of the 
established order. The transcendental sanction upon which it had 
been possible to rest the whole scheme of traditional values had to 
be given up and the logic of authoritarianism was called into question. 
Just that problem which had sunk into the level of unconsciousness 
under the anaesthetic influence of placid belief in God was roused by 
the new dynamic theory. From what point of view shall value 
be reckoned? The notions of change and development in our mod- 
ern point of view make it so evident that there can be many worlds 
to which our ideas of value may be related. The significant effect 
of the Doctrine of Evolution on the world of thought is its destruction of 
the possibility of rnaintaining loith equanimity the conception of absolute 
values and purposes} We are harassed when we mention the word 
'value' by the obhgation of telling also the position from which we 
speak. 

If we can no longer refer our values to a conceptual deity, has the 
Doctrine of Evolution given any other large impelling idea to guide 
the labors of men? Has it proposed any constructive notion which 
might serve as a criterion by which to judge 'the good'? One might 
be prompted to respond that in the idea of the "survival of the fit- 
test" some standard might be found, but it is clear on second thought 

^It is not the aim in these few paragraphs to prove the position of the relativists as 
against the absolutists. The writer assumes the relativist attitude as the only defensi- 
ble position. All that is meant to be said above is that value assumed as absolute 
was a currency which would pass unquestioned formerly because it had the stamp 
of the estabUshed realm of theological thought, but that now with the overthrow of 
that regnant position, the coin will not pass — each one tends to ring it and to examine it 
with great care. It no longer serves adequately as a means for facilitating action and 
life's processes. It is, as James would say, a "dead hyj)othesis." 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 19 

that the word "fittest" adds nothing to the idea of "survival." 
Whatever survives, that is the "fittest." Both very complex organ- 
isms sensitive to a variety of stimuli and simple inanimate substances 
are in the category of the "fittest" since both persist and have become 
"adjusted to the environment." A diamond maintaining the identity 
of form and substance even after the earth had cooled might be 
looked upon as more fit than a highly complex animal organism 
which needs a complex environment for its perpetuation. Evidently 
whether an organism is fit depends upon what its environment is, 
which in turn depends upon its own capability to react, which is indeed 
another way of describing the characteristics of the organism. The 
two relations are completely reciprocal. Everything that we find 
in the world must from such a point of view be considered equally fit.^ 

The evolutionary doctrine consistently considered has taken away 
the point of reference for our values, and has of itself been unable 
(on account of its very nature as a descriptive and not a subjective 
study) to substitute any new point of view. The total eJBfect of the 
scientific teaching on the question of values has tended to be negative. 
The realization of the futility of such destructive criticism alone has 
begun to impress itself upon our thinking. As Santayana says, 
"There is unfortunately no school of modern philosophy to which a 
critique of human progress can well be attached. Almost every 
school can furnish something useful to the critic, sometimes a physical 
theory, sometimes a piece of logical analysis. We shall need to go to 
borrow from current science and speculation the picture they draw 
of man's conditions, his environment, his history and mental habits. 
These may furnish a theatre and properties for his drama; but they 
oflPer no hint of its plot and meaning. A great imaginative apathy 
has fallen on the mind."^ 

Into this situation of philosophic bankruptcy Democracy has come 
with a new vision of the drama of human life to relieve the world of 
the meaninglessness of an unevaluated universe. It is the new faith, 
the religious inspiration in which the modem man finds a unification 
for his experiences and aspirations. Though it is not yet clear in its 

^Hobhouse, Social Evoltdion and Political Theory, Chap. I, pp. 7 ff. 
^The Life of Reason, Vol. I, page 9. 



20 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

implications or formulated into a complete system, men nevertheless 
feel that there is something of primordial strength and of immense 
significance in the new call. It has begun to be felt and even feared 
as the potent underlying creative force. Men envisage in it the Great 
Ideal which makes life worth living and for the attainment of which 
it is necessary to dedicate life. In this it comes not to destroy all 
other religious faiths but to fulfill. Its prime interest in the welfare 
of mankind makes it a completion not a negation of former religious 
aspirations. 

More than its accompanying characteristics of unification of 
consciousness, its intensification of emotional attitude and its tendency 
toward universalization of outlook, Democracy becomes identified 
as a religious striving through its central interest in the life of man. 
All the great religions center about the salvation of man. Even 
when philosophic or theologic verbiage have so dressed up a religion 
as to make it seem that its central aspiration is for an abstract idea 
or to praise the deity, the fundamental interest of all religions, as the 
modern psychological reinterpreters of the value of religion have 
clearly demonstrated, will be found to repeat the prophetic message, 
"Seek the Lord and live."^ Democracy like all religions makes man 
the hero of the universal drama. In this anxious concern for human 
welfare it repeats the central idea in all religions, the anthropocentric 
conception of the cosmos. 

Every religion in addition to the deep interest in man's life has also 
a cosmology, its picture of the world theatre in which man plays 
the heroic part and a ritual or method of action by which the end is 
to be attained. While agreeing in their main aspiration for human 
welfare, it is in these elements of cosmology and ritual that religions 
are distinguished from one another. That is why when ceremonies 
are given up and cosmological setting changed — as, for instance, when 
the biblical account of creation is abandoned — men are perhaps 
rightly regarded as having forsaken their old religion. Democracy, 
the religion of the modern man, has a new cosmology — it takes for 
its background the picture of the genesis and development of the 
world which modern science and speculation have drawn for us, a 

*See Josiah Royce, The Sources of Religious Insight, Chap. I. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 21 

picture far more gloriously imaginative than any of the ancient 
myths — and a correlated ritual, the mechanistic implications of the 
new cosmology which demands that we have methods which are 
verifiably efficient and that between cause and effect no mystic gap 
will enter. Democracy has the basic elements of a religion, an intense 
anxiety for the salvation of man, a cosmology in the broad doctrine 
of evolution and a ritual based on experience and on science.^ 

The implications of the new faith are, of course, as manifold as 
are life's activities and what the applications in any one field will be 
must occupy many men for many generations. It can hardly be 
said that the main principles have received formulation into a system. 
Nevertheless something of a positive and definite nature can already 
be said. The remaining portion of this chapter is an attempt to set 
down some of the basic meanings which the writer believes might be 
considered as making up a doctrinal test, so to speak, for communi- 
cants of the new religion. To trace out some of the fundamental 
notions of democracy through a consideration of the significances 
for the development of human life inherent in the cosmology of 
evolution and its biological connotations is our next problem. 

m 

The Quintessence of Democracy 

Our first criterion of democracy is derived from the negative 
teaching of the doctrine of evolution to which reference has already 
been made above, namely, the denial of 'design' and the disintegration 



^Perhaps the nature of Democracy's cosmology and so called ritual prevents our 
principle from being rightly called a religion. It is the use of magical methods, it may 
be said, that makes a process "religious"; and, since the implications here are scientific 
and mechanistic they cannot be considered "religious." But no sincere modern be- 
liever in religion will admit that religion must be "supernatural," must violate the known 
scientific laws. That woxdd resemble the timeworn story of the Sunday School 
teacher who defined faith as "something we know to be untrue and which we believe 
in." It must be remembered also that former mythical methods were not considered 
so by their users. They were the most practical known in reference to the puzzling 
problems of human welfare for which they were utilized. So, too, methods which 
may seem practical to us, based on reliable experience, may in many instances seem 
fantastic and inadequate to a later and wiser age. We must never lose sight of the 
fact that our own methods, however eflScient they may seem, are practical for ends 
whose value rests upon the assumption that man's life is supremely worth while — an 



22 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

of the prevailing belief in a conscious creator which permitted dis- 
cussion of values without mentioning their reference. One who 
speaks about values to-day must state openly the position from which 
he judges the world, otherwise he is taking the name of the Lord in 
vain and is a veritable scoffer who has no respect for sacredness of 
meaning. Even modem apologists of the absolutistic position must 
admit that value is in its meaning essentially relative and can become 
absolute only with reference to some assumed point of view.^ 

Since the points of view from which we may look upon the world 
are infinite in number, we must come to a pluralistic conception of 
value, truth, reality, etc., unless we arbitrarily assume some definite 
standpoint. The values and goods of the world are as numerous as 
are the possibilities of analysis into units of existence, or, in other 
words, infinite. Were we really impartial and did we look upon the 
world with no bias, every activity would be equally valuable for it 
could be conceived as furthering something. For the good would 
need to be considered not from any external point of view but from 
the immediate and internal aspect of the being concerned. Even 
processes which we call 'disintegrating' would seem proper if we 
were not in the least concerned. In accordance with the doctrine 
of the "survival of the fittest" anything existing at any particular 
time would need to be considered fit. A thoroughly naturalistic 
religion pressing its doctrine to the logical extreme would look upon 
all being as sacred and judge all values as absolute from their own 
point of reference (in opposition to the theological conception which 
considers things as worth while only from one fixed point of view). 
There would be, so to speak, a thoroughgoing democracy in the 
world, for all things would be regarded as free and equal. 

Here indeed we have the clue that brings us to the quintessence 
of the democratic doctrine. The tendency to regard everything as 
an end in itself is the fountainhead from which springs the new 
view of the world. With far-reaching vision does Walt Whitman 
define Democracy. "The quality of Being in the object's self ac- 

assumption that is based on desire, faith, and the will to existence. The analogy of 
Democracy with a religion is not necessary for the subsequent argument and should 
not be taken too strictly. 

'Hugo Munsterberg, Eternal Values, Chap. I, p. 9; Chap. VI, p. 76. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 23 

cording to its own central idea and purpose, and of growing there- 
from and thereto — not by criticism of other standards and adjust- 
ments thereto — is the lesson of Nature."^ The seer of Democracy, 
looking beyond temporary embodiments and manifestations, gives 
us his creed in the terms of its ultimate aspiration. 

Were the world so harmoniously arranged that it would be possible 
to treat all beings both on the plane of the human and below it as if 
they were ends in themselves, we would not speak of such an aspira- 
tion as this in religious terms. But existences conflict with each 
other. The hypotheses of the universal presence of force at the 
foundation of all our evolutionary doctrine makes conflict an inevita- 
ble factor in our universe — a conflict out of which rise integrated 
forms and the struggle for survival including the struggle of desire 
with desire, of man with man, of species with species. Of these 
conflicts are born our ideals. Without this conflict we would have 
no philosophy and no religion, for these obviously are harmonizing 
principles, describing universes better than the one we live in, with 
the hope that the actual world will be brought somewhat nearer the 
ideal conception. In so far as it is a religion democracy does not 
describe a condition already existing; it reflects an aspiration. 
Democracy finds its significance in the attempt to multiply the things in 
the world which may be considered as ends in themselves. 

This broad and general statement of the essential meaning of 
democracy is, however, to be considered a sort of Messianic hope, 
pointing the direction but not giving the limits of practical realiza- 
tion. The Universe cannot be saved all at once; in a practical and 
realizable program there are always limitations. It is with Man 
that we are most concerned. The prophet who dreams that the lion 
shall eat straw like the ox is in reality interested not in the animal 
kingdom but in the relations of men to men; and so democracy, 
too, has the human being at heart primarily. Walt Whitman's 
definition is meant above all to apply to men, and might be para- 
phrased, "The quality of Being inherent in the Self according to its 
own central idea and purpose and of growing therefrom and thereto, — 

^Democratic Vistas. Though Whitman happens to use the word Nature in this 
sentence he has really set out to define Democracy. 



24 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

not by criticism of other standards and adjustments thereto — ^is the 
teaching of Democracy." Whatever will be the aspiration of future 
epochs, in our own age the religion of democracy consists in the 
aspiration to construct a world in which it will be possible to live in 
accordance with the Kantian formula, to regard every human being 
as an end, not as a means merely. 

Democracy assumes an anthropocentric world, which as noted 
above is a characteristic that it has in common with all religions. 
It should be noted, however, that the naturalistic origin of our creed 
has left its trace on the attitude which the democratic mind takes 
toward all values. Under a theologic conception the tendency is to 
look upon the world as condemned, and to find in it values only as 
they are seen to serve some accepted higher principle. In the 
democratic attitude, though we may reject the extreme of regarding 
everything as valuable, we are nevertheless left with a tolerant feeling 
toward all life even that which does not immediately concern us. In 
the one case, every activity stands condemned before the bar of 
thought unless it can show itself serviceable for aims which have 
valid precedents; in the other case, illustrating what is fundamental 
in a democratic mode of thought, the defendant must be considered 
as innocent until it can be shown that there is a definite violation. 
This difference of attitude is the crux of the whole matter and will 
be important in our discussion of diverging forms of culture and 
individuality. The diflFerence is a fundamental one; the one mode 
of thought will tend to lead to a suppression of everything which 
diverges from the established, the other mode to that liberation of 
forces which is necessary for the creation of a fuller and richer life. 

The democratic conception would look with tolerance upon all 
forms of life and would endeavor to understand them from their own 
point of view. With reference to human individuality democracy 
would go even further; it considers personality as absolutely sacred, 
and its exploitation as the worst form of sacrilege.^ 

This supreme belief in the person is perhaps in the last analysis 
like all else in human life based upon instinct and desire, a result of the 
will to live, a part of that assumption which places man at the center 

»Cf, David Jayne Hill, Americanism. What is it? Chap. IV. pp. 133 ff. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 25 

of the Universe. Since human individuals are alone articulate, it 
would be strange indeed if this fundamental fact had not left its traces 
in our philosophy. If a man speaks sincerely he must reveal what in 
his own experience (which is in part a personal experience) has seemed 
valuable. Nevertheless, in addition to these natural causes there 
seems to be sufficient rational justification for emphasis on the human 
individual once we have agreed that democracy finds its significance 
in the desire to multiply the things in the world which may be con- 
sidered as ends in themselves. The self-conscious nature of human 
individuality makes it worthy of this preeminent consideration. 

In comparison with the whole plane of beings below the human, 
the human being is alone capable of realizing the significance of his 
own nature. Cows have no conception of the purpose that animates 
their breeding and do not suflFer from the memory of the lot of their 
fellows or from a prevision of the end which overshadows them. 
The term exploitation loses its sinister connotation when applied to 
beings on a low plane of consciousness; for the realization that any 
control is external is the other side of self -consciousness and can exist 
only in direct proportion to the extent to which one's own nature is 
known. While wanton destructiveness and cruelty are repulsive 
to a humane nature, a too anxious solicitude concerning animal 
individuality and the integrity of natural forms would savor of 
sentimentality in a world in which the majority of human beings 
are not yet considered as living for themselves. Democracy, in a 
practical way, insists that the most sensitive organism above all must 
be saved from exploitation. 

On the other hand, by comparison with existences which are 
superindividual, like the family, the state, society, etc., the exploi- 
tation of the individual alone would appear really cruel. Poetically, 
we can speak of these groups as if they were individuals and had souls, 
as it were. Actually, however, they lack a sensorium and must be 
directed in their action through individuals. The individual has 
purposes which it is true cannot be fulfilled except through living 
in a social world. But how could a group have values except through 
its constituent individuals and in the last analysis for their sake? 
By talking about society as if it were a single entity we are only too 



26 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

apt in our romanticism to commit to martyrdom the many individ- 
uals who are in reahty self-conscious and for whom exploitation, 
therefore, is so malignant. 

In the third place, even if our point of view were not anthropo- 
centric and individualistic, but thoroughly natural and objective, 
it would appear to be the pragmatic thing to do (in a world which by 
hypothesis is not ideal) to set up first of all the self-conscious entities 
as the supreme ends of creation. Self -consciousness is no inner self- 
ebullition, but a knowledge of one's relationship to other human beings 
and to the whole outer world. A deeper self -consciousness means not 
an intensification of the ego, but a realization of how many other 
persons, things and ideas are necessary for the fulfillment of one's own 
life. Men must realize as they begin to understand their needs how 
dependent upon society they are. Thus it is that society as a whole 
is served by promoting the good of the individuals within it. Surely 
if the individuals in any society are satisfying their highest desires 
the whole society must be accomplishing its function. On the other 
hand a nation can still continue to exist while many of its citizens are 
killed or unhappy. And again referring to the plane of lower exist- 
ences it is inconceivable that the lower animal or the plant should 
learn to understand what man's nature is and save it from exploita- 
tion. It is more reasonable to expect man to be able to understand 
the ends of lower beings and prevent them from exploitation. The 
self-conscious individual is the most complex being. Since he is 
dependent upon the world to the greatest extent he must learn to 
preserve more and more of the world. Comparatively speaking it 
is more economical to start with the self-conscious individual; for 
if the world has the ideal possibility of becoming a place where a 
great variety of beings may pursue their existences harmoniously 
then the chances for increasing the number of such self-determining 
entities are greatest when we begin with the self-conscious beings. 

Self-consciousness thus provides a clear reason for centering our 
attention on the individual; it gives to the reality of the human 
individual an unmatched intensity, makes the idea of exploitation 
intolerably sinister, and assures us that Man must ultimately realize 
the necessity of a rich natural environment and of a complex social 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 27 

order. While all beings in the world seem worthy of perpetuation, 
the human individual seems most worthy. His survival more than 
that of any other being will lead to the conservation of life. So, too, 
within the group of human individuals, those who are most self- 
conscious, i.e., who realize most truly their dependence upon nature, 
upon other human beings and upon social institutions, are most 
worthy of being preserved. Maintaining the very doctrine that 
individuality is sacred, we must come to the conclusion that individ- 
ualism in the sense of selfishness is an abomination. Only those men 
who can live without exploiting others are desirable in a world in 
which all personalities are considered sacred. To admit anything 
else would be to negate the basic assumption. Like the God of 
Israel the God of Democracy is a jealous God, the one jealous for 
the principle of social justice, the other jealous for the creed of respect 
for personality. That individual in the world is most worthy of 
preservation for whose fulfillment the free expression of the individ- 
ualities of other men is also a necessity and for the upbuilding of 
whose life a rich world is the prerequisite. He is the highly self- 
conscious individual who understands his dependence upon the 
world.^ 

Self-consciousness translated into terms of action becomes self- 
determination. Forged through the greatest upheaval in human 
history to express the ideal of the democracies of the world this new 
phrase might well serve to convey the essential meaning of the Kantian 
doctrine and of the vision of Walt Whitman. Self-determination is 
the quintessence of democracy. Values must be related to the self 
if they are to be in truth goods and the individual must be regarded 
as his own end. 

This idea will give us the orientation; but the term 'self -de termina- 
tion,' clear as it is in reference to intent, is still too vague to use as a 
standard; it does not imply the conditions of its own fulfillment. 
The specific criteria of democracy will need to take into consideration 
the terms which limit the possibility of free self-development. 



^For an excellent discussion of the significance of self -consciousness for individuality, 
see Warner Fite, Individualism. 



28 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

IV 

The Criteria of Democracy 

uniqueness of evaluation 

It is fundamental to remember that each individual is a unique 
specimen; human individuals are not copies of each other like so 
many buttons turned out by the same machine. Our doctrine of 
evolution would impress upon us the heterogeneity within each 
species and the tendency for greater individual diversification as the 
species reaches higher levels. This primary fact of individual 
differences must be taken into the first reckoning in our evaluation of 
the good. The unique nature of the particular individual involved 
must become the reference point if we are seeking a real benefit for 
him. The extent to which it is possible in any given society to under- 
stand each individual's good and to include it into the social good 
becomes the limit of democracy. 

The traditional tendency has been to pass judgment on persons 
in accordance with some group in which they were classed. Race, 
sex, social class or church were for the most part considered to be the 
determining factors in assigning to the individual a place in society. 
The presumption was that difference in some characteristics carried 
with it similar differences in respect to the total character. Classi- 
fication seems to have the result of investing a person with a sort of 
quality which makes him what he is. Against this attitude of mind 
the democratic conception would insist that the character of each 
individual should be directly examined in order to ascertain what he 
is. A person is what he is, because he is so, not because he belongs 
to a certain class. 

This tendency in democracy, to approach the matter in hand 
directly, is matched by a similar development in the conception of 
cause. In primitive stages of thought when men sought the cause of 
a phenomenon, they did not seek it in the phenomenon under examina- 
tion, but in some other object or process. To control, little interest 
or study was given to the matter to be controlled; the endeavor was 
to exert influence through something external which was considered 
as having a dominating potency. The disease which had come over 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY »» 

a man was considered as quite separate from the man. It had 
entered into him. The ensuing activity, therefore, was to do some- 
thing not to the man but to the evil spirits which needed to be expelled. 
In the cosmic scheme, God and creation were considered as quite 
distinct and the world was to be controlled not by mastering creation, 
but by appealing in some way to God. 

In science to-day the tendency is to seek the cause in the very 
subject under consideration, not in the distant far-off external rela- 
tionships. We find the 'cause' in the immediately preceding and 
surrounding conditions; i.e., we find it more useful from the point of 
view of control to know what immediately precedes and surrounds. 
We refuse to be satisfied with the intuition of a connection between 
this before us and that remote ultimate. Even if the ultimate can 
influence the immediate object at hand, it must be through inter- 
mediate connections which must in the last analysis be contiguous 
with the immediate object. So we begin with the matter at hand and 
seek to gain control over the nearby conditions. 

Cause, therefore, is to be sought in the peculiar organization of the 
specific instance in question, not in any external fact or object, which 
on account of some overt similarity or some other process of associa- 
tion or some mystical connection is assumed to exercise potency over 
it. So closely have cause and effect approached each other in modern 
thinking that the use of these words tends to give a false connotation 
of disparateness, when in reality they have come to mean two aspects 
of or stages in the same process. 

The mechanistic interpretation of the universe as against an idea 
of creator and creation; the attempt to get at heredity not on the 
basis of external resemblances of relatives, but through a study of the 
germ plasm; the explanation of human nature not by means of 
'faculties', but in terms of the organization of the nervous system; 
the analysis of historical phenomena by examining the local and 
contemporaneous conditions rather than harking back to supposed 
'origins'; and in philosophy the finding of purposes not in some exter- 
nal Authority or Law or Society, but in the functioning organism — 
all these seem to be products of working with intrinsic, immediately 
related conditions. 



30 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

This attitude of seeking the 'cause' in the sphere of eflBcient condi- 
tion, in the particular, immediate, internal, specific organization of the 
business in question rather than primarily in the realm of 'final causes' 
in the general, ultimate, external, mystical relationships, is the 
attitude to be borne in mind when we approach the task of under- 
standing the nature of any individual. To come as near home as 
possible, to endeavor to begin from within, is part of the democratic 
doctrine of self-determination. 

Race, color, class, sex, social position are themselves at best 
only hints concerning the individuals to whom we wish to refer. 
They are not powers or spirits which enter into the individual 
and make him what he is. To understand, for instance, what place 
a person who happens to be a woman ought to play in our social 
organization, it would be in the democratic spirit to ascertain just 
what she could do from an impartial test of her capabilities, rather 
than to assign a preconceived status, determined altogether by one 
factor, that of sex. The movement of democracy is to get away from 
such prejudgments on the basis of one factor (a procedure which is 
bound to bring about a judgment by an external standard) and to get 
as close as possible to the actual individual, as near as possible to 
his own unique nature. The same line of reasoning which forbids 
absolute values, related to a conceptual God, precludes values related 
to conceptual Classes.^ 

It is the unique person to whom values must be related. We fulfill 
the demands of our relativistic conception of value only in the degree 
that we give due consideration to the individual's nature involved. 
In thinking about the good, the point of departure from which our reckon- 
ing begins must be the individual persons who are most closely concerned 
in the situation — that is the first prerequisite of a democratic proce- 
dure. Because we are incapable of realizing in its fulness and in- 
tensity the experience of others (we seem, too, naturally disinclined 
to do so) the practical application of democracy involves the setting 
up of machinery which will enable men to control the policies that 

^The type of state outlined in Plato's flepufeKc, for instance, with its threefold classi- 
fication, is in effect an undemocratic conception. While the individuals are classified 
supposedly with due respect to their natures, the assumption that there are only three 
types would give little scope to individuality. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 31 

govern them. For this reason "consent of the governed" is regarded 
as the basic principle in poHtical democracy. Participation in the 
control of any activity which vitally affects the course of one's life 
becomes the safeguard of human liberty. The word 'self-determina- 
tion' expresses so happily the essential meaning of democracy because 
it implies that the ultimate judgment of the good and the final power 
over one's fate must rest with the living subject of experience. 

Since the individual undergoing an experience is alone capable of 
realizing to the full the value of any experience, we might conclude 
(granting that he accords to every other individual the respect of 
personality which he demands for himself) that the individual 
himself must in the last analysis be the ultimate and only judge of 
the salvation which is in accordance with his own nature. Such is 
perhaps the case, but it will be well to see in what important directions 
the validity of his judgment must be practically limited. 



DIVERSITY IN THE ENVIRONMENT 

We can speak of judgment on the part of the individual only when 
he has a variety of possibilities of experience from which to choose. 
When there is only one possible mode of responding either in act or 
in imagination there can be no judgment in the true sense. In accord- 
ance with the biological conception underlying this discussion the 
individual is conceived as an organism responding to an environment 
and learning through the satisfactions and dissatisfactions accom- 
panying his reactions to choose what for him is the good and to 
reject the evil. There must be present a multiplicity of material 
and ideal objects to which to respond before a free choice becomes 
possible. 

The removal of governmental and social restraints which prevent 
some from enjoying the benefits already conferred upon others is 
only the first step in the attainment of freedom. For its full develop- 
ment it is necessary to create continuously new possibilities in the 
surroundings. A richly diversified natural mental and social environ- 
ment must be present before the individual can be thought of as 
reacting in accordance with his own nature. America must be justly 



32 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

considered democratic even more because it is the golden land of 
opportmiity than because it opposes privilege. The popular con- 
ception colored by the long, difficult struggle for equal rights natur- 
ally emphasizes most the personal aspect implied in the phrase equality 
of opportunity. But equality alone is negative and empty when not 
joined to a multiplicity of opportunity. "The troubles of the many 
— that is half consolation," so runs a Hebrew proverb. The indi- 
vidual human undoubtedy finds some measure of satisfaction in 
realizing that he is no worse oflf than his fellow. An intelligent and 
positive conception, however, will stress the impersonal condition of 
freedom — a manifold diverse opportunity. The presence of a variety 
of possibilities is the sine qua non of freedom, and defining from the 
point of view of the environment the only real meaning that the term 
can have. 

The mere existence of objects and ideas obviously does not imply 
that all will react; to be present in the environment signifies also a 
potentiality on the part of the organism. Fundamentally important 
differences of instinctive endowment affect the possibility of response. 
Original nature, therefore, gives both the possibility of freedom and 
its limitations. So, too, the modifications upon the nervous system 
known as habit formation have their effect upon the possibilities of 
reaction. Habit, too, makes possible, but at the same time may limit 
freedom. The establishment of fixed modes of reaction permits 
the organism to engage the attention in new fields. Fixed habits 
are necessary to relieve the mind from the many harassing details 
of the daily routine of physical and social living. The number of 
situations into which we are thrown is so great that it would be 
impossible to consider in each case what would be the best type of 
reaction. In many cases nearly any mode of reaction would do nearly 
as well; in other cases age-long experimentation has evolved 
customs which have justified themselves in practice. In all such 
instances the development of habits serves freedom. The danger 
lurks when habits are established in reference to matters where 
freedom of choice is all important. For this reason individualists 
have often warned that the only habit to form is the habit to form 
no habit. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCKACT 33 

In any matter in which freedom is considered of great moment 
fixation of habit setting up an unalterable reaction amounts really 
to a limitation of environment. Habit formation can even be used 
as a means for the suppression of freedom. By bringing about an 
immediate and fixed response the organism becomes less able to choose, 
for as a matter of fact it no longer has the possibility of several 
reactions. When the series of habits acquired was originally con- 
trived with little consideration of the person in whom the habit is 
later fixed and the process is calculated to further the interests of 
those who implant them, habit formation becomes indoctrination. 
Indoctrination limits freedom by closing the imagination to any but 
the ideas which have been indoctrinated. When one comes under 
the influence of only one language, one literature, one church or one 
school system, the tendency in a sense is toward indoctrination. A 
good illustration is the parochial school which takes all the child's 
time, sets up definite ideas as exclusively the true ones, and prevents 
the child from coming under other influences than its own. Similar, 
too, may be the effect of state control of the public schools, although 
in a different direction. If the public school demands practically all 
of the child's time, education can avoid becoming indoctrination 
only when the diversity and richness of the curriculum matches with 
the uniqueness of each child's nature. 

An understanding of the organic nature of the individual would 
make us insist that greater diversification of possibilities to react 
to can alone lead to freedom. Since the organism cannot react to 
nothingness, it is only by offering additional ways of doing things 
that liberation from the necessity of reacting in one way can come. 
The mediaeval serf, whose slavery depended upon the fact that he 
was bound to the land, would not have received freedom if land were, 
so to speak, abolished; only by being permitted to move from place 
to place, i.e., to be in many lands, could freedom be attained. To 
be relieved from the hardship that expression imposes upon thought, 
it would be necessary not to become ignorant of all language, but to 
know more of the languages. To be a free thinker it is necessary to 
understand and at least in a sense believe in many religions, not to 
be ignorant and skeptical of all. Especially if we have in mind any 



34 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

high degree of individual uniqueness, as we have in our conception 
of the self-conscious individual, we must assume an environment 
with diversified possibilities. Organic uniqueness and dependence 
upon a diversified environment proceed together. The conception 
of the individual as an organic entity must immediately lead us to 
a positive conception of freedom, and to the insistence upon a diversi- 
fication of environment as well as upon a uniqueness of evaluation. 
In addition, then, to the necessity of regarding each individual as 
unique, a second prerequisite of self-determination will be an environ- 
ment rich in 'possibilities of thought and act. 

The term 'organism' includes the ideas of an environment and of a 
relationship between the organism and the environment. The dis- 
tinctions, 'organism,' 'environment,' 'reaction,' are mental discrimi- 
nations; in nature these three are aspects of one unitary process. 
Any one of the terms must imply the other two, for they are all 
correlative. It is the interest of the particular discussion that will 
determine the standpoint from which to view the whole process. In 
the discussion above, conceiving the process from the point of view 
of the individual organism, we were led to emphasize the need of 
each individual organism as unique. Taking the environmental at- 
titude, it was shown that diversity of possibilities is necessary if the 
organism is to have freedom to react. Our third criterion will be 
developed by examining the question from the point of view of the 
relating principle, the interdependence of organism and environ- 
ment. 

SOCIALIZATION 

The first standard of democracy stressed the importance of the 
realization of the uniqueness of each individual as basic to any 
meaningful conception of value. This argument will have been 
completely misunderstood, however, if the idea of uniqueness has 
been confused with that of disparateness. Each moment in a life- 
time is a unique experience, but time would be inconceivable if the 
moment were regarded as separate and unrelated to the preceding 
and succeeding moments. Each act and each thought, though unique, 
has its background and its references, its 'causes' and 'results'. So, 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 35 

too, uniqueness of the individual does not imply a separation from, 
and lack of relation to, other things and men. Quite the contrary. 
Uniqueness depends upon the peculiar organization of relationships, 
and no great degree of uniqueness can exist without a corresponding 
complexity of organization which of course involves a multiplicity 
and complexity of relationships. Organic uniqueness and depend- 
ence upon a diversified environment must proceed pari -passu 
because they are in fact the same things. The individuality of a man 
consists in the relationship that he bears to the world; it is the world 
from his point of view. 

Man's dependence is upon the whole of Nature — things, ideas and 
persons. The individual can exist neither physically nor as the fig- 
ment of a conception without dependence in some measure on one or 
all of these three aspects of the environment. As his individuality 
develops, the dependence upon ideas and persons becomes of more 
significant importance. In so far as any individual at any moment 
recalls the relevant experiences of the past and foresees the references 
to possible future happenings, and in the degree that he realizes in 
true measure the dependences upon which his own individuality 
rests, he will be true to his own nature. Man does not live by bread 
alone; a complexity of social and spiritual relationships is necessary 
for his welfare. To understand that all relationships have signifi- 
cances wider than the present application and to assume the responsi- 
bility that they imply, is a part of democracy. Nothing in the world 
that we can discover is irrelevant to our existence, and nothing that 
we do or neglect to do can fail to influence ourselves and the world. 
The extent to which the individual realizes his many interdependences 
becomes the third criterion of democracy. 

Democratic thought has in view especially our relations to other 
persons. A natural view of things unbiased by anthropomorphism, 
as we have noted earlier in this chapter, would regard all nature as 
sacred and all beings as ends in themselves. The democratic view, 
accepting this outlook, nevertheless assumes the prior importance of 
human life and insists on the sanctity of each person as the highest 
good. So also here, logically insisting on the importance of all 
dependences, the crucial interest of the democratic aspiration turns 
about mankind and on the relation of men to each other. 



36 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

Our first doctrine of the sacredness of each unique personality 
already implies that each man must respect the personality of the 
other. If a conflict of interest ensues, an adjustment is necessary 
which will consider in equal measure all concerned, and which wiU 
avoid the exploitation of the one at the expense of the other. In 
addition to this, our concept of interdependence demands from the 
individual the responsibility to maintain those social relations and 
organizations upon which his welfare rests. To know that every 
action of his has reference to other persons and to consider the effect 
of his activities upon the social institutions is a duty which he must 
fulfill not only by virtue of the doctrine of the inviolability of all 
persons, but also because natural conditions make him dependent 
upon social life for his very existence. 

It will be realized from this emphasis placed upon socialization 
that the need of unique evaluation does not imply selfishness or un- 
bridled individualism. Undoubtedly danger lurks in the overemphasis 
of either of the two factors to the exclusion of the other — democracy 
is a balance of forces. We are entering upon a period in whidi 
socialization will for the time being be considered the more impor- 
tant factor in many plans of economic and political life. The change 
is from an emphasis upon rights to emphasis upon duties. Nor are 
we yet ripe for that exalted conception of 'mutual aid' implied in the 
theory of Anarchy. Evidently since all individuals have not ac- 
cepted the responsibility of noblesse oblige involved in the democratic 
doctrine it will be necessary to have means of restraint to use against 
those who would attempt to violate the personalities of others. 
Furthermore, the relations upon which we are dependent are far from 
being obvious. It has taken hundreds of generations of human living 
to fully realize many of them and it may take a lifetime to rediscover 
them. Respect for social institutions and obedience to them until 
more adequate ones can be established will follow as a corollary from 
a realization of the individual's dependence upon social life. Here 
education has an important function in making explicit the signifi- 
cance and deep roots of social institutions. Moreover, since the 
dependences of man upon other men and upon nature are not of a 
definite and limited number but are really infinite, always multiplying 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 37 

in number and increasing in complexity, the social relation cannot 
be confined only to adjustment to existing institutions and traditions. 
Education has the additional function of extending the social idea in 
new directions to apply to wider and more complex societies and to 
find embodiment in new and more highly developed institutions. 
The process of socialization is never complete. In no sense is the 
individual to be conceived of as disparate, a law unto himself, self- 
sustaining and self-sufficient; at every point it will be seen that he 
must reckon with other forces and with other men, and with his 
future as well. 

The unification of the individual with the World is an abiding 
thought in philosophy and religion. The longing to become merged 
with the All, to save oneself from the loneliness of a dissociated life, 
is at the heart of the notion of Salvation. The quest of life is a quest 
for the unification of the individual soul with the soul of the world. 
Born from the World, we are yet, so to speak, bound by an umbilical 
cord from the very center of our being to the womb of Mother Earth 
and we dare not break the bond without cutting off the sustenance of 
the nourishing mother. 

Differentiation, a separating from the total matrix, never means 
an absolute separation from the body. It is as if with every diver- 
sification the bond that unifies us with earth undergoes a subdivision; 
a new finely spun thread appears with each differentiation. Never is 
the individual in reality cut off from the world from which he was 
bom. The higher the differentiation, the more numerous are the 
bonds, the more finely spun, the more closely interwoven; they cannot 
be neglected or broken without hurt to the being. The full develop- 
ment of our personality depends upon retaining these bonds of union 
between our differentiated self and the Universe. 

Our new outlook has not suppressed the deep human longing 
for unification with the world; but the conception of what constitutes 
union has been transformed. In the philosophies of the East the 
unification is to be attained by merging again into the Infinite from 
which we have sprung. Through a loss of consciousness we are to 
be unified again with the world of the unconscious. The whole 
work of evolution is to be undone and the self is to lapse again into 



38 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

an undifferentiated state of unconsciousness. In accordance with 
our own conception a complete life is possible neither when the bonds 
are broken nor when they are merged into indiscrimination, but only 
when the Individual becomes conscious of the myriad relationships 
which join him with the World. The union of the self with the 
World cannot be attained by falling back into the undifferentiated 
state, by going back into the womb, as it were. Once born we must 
continue to grow, that is, to become differentiated. Only one process 
can save us. We must become conscious of the bonds that hold us 
to the world; see clearly every relationship; discover more and 
more how we are bound to the world. Our own notion of evolution 
teaches us that the line of development is not in the attainment of 
homogeneous undifferentiation, but of integrated diversifications; 
not in a falling back to unconsciousness, but in the attainment of 
self-consciousness. The progress of our salvation is in the continued 
differentiation of each self and in the progressive, conscious realiza- 
tion of the bonds of union that the differentiating self bears to the 
rest of the world. 

To regard each individual as an end in himself; to know that he 
is a growing organism and that the goal of his Being is already inherent 
in his instinctive endowment; to understand that as he grows he 
becomes more differentiated from his fellows and yet more dependent 
upon them; to realize that consciousness of himself and of his rela- 
tionships to the world is what keeps him whole — all these are of the 
democratic doctrine which looks for the goal of the world not in the 
fulfillment of any objective law or principle, but within man himself 
to the fulfillment of his Personality. 

In the endeavor to develop Personality three conditions must be 
held in mind : 

1. That each unique individual be regarded as the point of reference 

for value; 

2. That the environment present a diversity of possibilities accessible 

to all; 

3. That there be a consciousness on the part of the individual of his 

dependence upon the intricate series of natural and social 
relationships upon which his individuality rests. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 39 

Since these three conditions may exist in an infinite variety of degrees, 
we must realize that democracy is no one definite state but a tendency 
of development. We can, therefore, speak of democracy only in com- 
parative terms. It is the direction of the movement which will define 
any condition as democratic or not. Where there is a progressive 
consideration of uniqueness, a multiplication of diverse possibilities, 
a growing consciousness of man's interdependence — there does democ- 
racy exist. 



Democracy and Minorities 

Our main task, that of applying these criteria to the special problem 
of the adjustment of foreign ethnic groups, is part of the more general 
question of the democratic treatment of minorities. What attitude 
should a Democracy assume toward minority divergences? A con- 
sideration of this question will serve to make the foregoing analysis 
more concrete as well as to develop some important notions relevant 
to the subsequent discussion. 

Democracy has often been completely identified in practice with 
the rule of the majority, as if this were the essence of our principle 
and not merely an expedient. Obviously, once admitting the correct- 
ness of such an identification, suppression of minorities would be in 
thorough accord with the ideal of democracy, even its avowed 
purpose, and not an evil made necessary by the practical limitations 
of the evolved political machinery. If the presumption is that the 
opinion of the majority and the right are one, then all divergences 
from the majority must be set down as evil. Our own basic prin- 
ciple, however, it will be recalled, demands that we tend to regard 
all things as good; suppressing alone is evil and can be justified only 
when it becomes necessary to avoid a worse evil. In accordance with 
our own notion divergences must be regarded as good until thej^ are 
shown to be evil and ni^ust be permitted to exist until the effects of 
their activities are evideiitly detrimental. 

Nevertheless, a tolerant attitude towards minority views and 
policies does not leave us without any criterion for judging when they 



40 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

should be suppressed. Too often an artificial dilemma is proposed 
to choose between rule in accordance with the majority or license for 
minorities to do anything they please. Such a Hobson's choice is 
quite unnecessary. As is usually the case the dilemma is to be solved 
by analyzing other possible positions and by the introduction of 
qualifications. Minority divergences are not of one kind and any 
wholesale statement in reference to them is bound to mislead. For 
the purposes of our own discussion we may divide them into at least 
three broad classes. 

CRUCIAL IMPORT 

In the first class are the divergences which are not really crucial. 
Whether a person prefers greys or browns, whether he likes fish or 
fowl, whether he favors Shakespeare or Shaw, would not, generally 
speaking, be matters of great concern to the state. Perhaps in dis- 
cussing divergences we do not usually have such diflPerences in mind. 
Yet it is of prime importance to remember constantly that there is 
such a class. If we stop to think for a moment we shall admit that 
more matters than we commonly assume really fall in this class; 
perhaps it is the largest class. There is a tendency — so universal 
as to lead to a suspicion that it may be instinctive — to regard dif- 
ferences from the majority or from the established order or from the 
conventional as being inferior. To remember that there is a vast 
class of differences which really do not matter will certainly serve to 
improve our sense of humor and our spirit of tolerance. 

OBJECTIVITY 

On the other hand there is a class of divergence which can be 
objectively demonstrated to be malignant. By an objective demon- 
stration we mean one that would repeatedly convince men regardless 
of their race, creed, occupation or personal idiosyncrasies provided 
they were open-minded. Science tends to deal with such matters 
as are capable of such experimental objective verification. When- 
ever we know through scientific research that a certain condition is 
harmful, then the opinion of a contrary-minded minority need not be 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 41 

respected. There is a range of matters where such scientific conclu- 
sions are possible and generally accepted. Sanitation, for instance, 
calculated to safeguard the health of all regardless of creed, politics 
or nationality may be enforced even against the unwillingness of the 
unclean. 

Academically it is possible of course to controvert this argument 
of objectivity by showing that objectivity is relative, not absolute. 
Whether a certain condition is really evil or not, it may be said, 
depends not only upon demonstration that it exists but upon a certain 
assumption of aims. If trance states and the seeing of visions are 
considered as in themselves good, starvation which may promote 
these abnornmal conditions may be trans valuated into goods. But 
we are not pursuing hairsplitting discussions for their own sake. 
Common sense will pragmatically accept the principle that in matters 
such as these there is no justifiable right to differ and no society will 
encounter any very great trouble in suppressing activities which 
scientific investigation concludes to be harmful for the human race 
as a whole. We may lay down the principle that in the degree that a 
demonstration of the evil results of a minority opinion approaches 
objectivity, in that degree is it democratic to suppress the diverging 
opinion. 

Approaching the possibility of objective demonstration as a limit 
is a whole range of actions universally acknowledged to be evil. 
Here, too, drastic action is justifiable. Such matters as stealing, 
lying, adultery, against which there is a deep laid and universally 
widespread antipathy, may be forcibly suppressed without violating 
our sense of democracy. For even those who commit these sins 
will in moments when they are not engaged in the action admit 
that these are wrong in principle. The particular offensive action 
may be excused as necessitated by circumstances or as really not 
falling within the sphere of the rule broken; but the principle would 
be defended by all, even the doers of the mischievous deed. 

Of the same temper as the objectively demonstrable and of the 
universally approved or disapproved is a range of matters capable of 
rational demonstration. Rational justification is really an extension 
of the two former positions. Through reasoning we show that the 



42 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

situation under discussion is really another instance of a position 
already assumed to be covered, where the same principle must apply. 
In the degree, therefore, that we attempt to reach rational conclusions 
we are approaching a democratic attitude. In essence, summarizing 
the three divisions of this second class, objectivity of judgment rather 
than majority of judgment is the goal toward which democracy tends. 
No majority rule should stand in the way of a position objectively 
or rationally demonstrable to be salutary, even in a democracy. 
Needless to say, neither has a minority in such a case a right to retain 
its private point of view. 

SOCIAL INTENT 

However, in the discussion of the treatment of minorities we 
generally have in mind not divergences which do not matter or those 
where there is a universal accord, but divergences which are of 
import and in reference to which there is a difference of opinion. 
This third class refers especially to those positions where the minority 
avows its social-mindedness, claims to be acting for the general good, 
but differs from the majority in its opinion of the proper means. 
It is the treatment of these instances which will be the test of 
whether democracy exists in a situation or not. 

In these cases the plain rule of democracy is to strive toward 
tolerance; to permit the minority to be active even to the point of 
exasperation. It will be necessary to reckon carefully how crucial 
the situation is. When it is a case of survival or destruction, there is 
no other way but to fall back upon prejudice. The retreat from 
tolerance, however, must be with the face toward the unattainable 
position. Where objective proof is impossible, let us have a repre- 
sentative majority decision; where the majority cannot be trusted, 
we must as a last resort entrench ourselves in rash guesses, in pre- 
judices, in instinct. But then democracy has been defeated. How- 
ever, in less crucial situations democracy demands that we wait for 
the demonstrably evil results before we suppress. If the situation 
is really bad, the evil results will soon be seen. Suppression of 
minority views in situations where such suppression is not absolutely 
necessary is the antithesis of democracy. 



THE DOCTRINES OF DffltfOCRACT 43 

In dealing with minorities it is necessary to make a serious intel- 
lectual attempt to classify the divergence under consideration with 
reference to its crucial import, to its social intent, to the objective 
demonstrability of the quality of its effect, and to decide upon the 
degree of tolerance to be accorded from its relation to these standards, 
endeavoring always to afford the greatest freedom compatible with 
the protection of all other freedoms. The application of these 
criteria demands knowledge, skill and good judgment; their analysis 
alone does not guarantee a correct application. Nevertheless, an 
earnest attempt to use them as guides will lead us out of the artificial 
dilemma of choice between the license of the majority and the license 
of the minority. The application of the rules laid down may serve 
as aids and as sanctions for our action. 

The suppression of free speech, for instance, on the part of organs 
that were frankly opposed to the war would be seen from such a 
criterion to have been undemocratic. It would argue a great weak- 
ness in our cause and methods if a minority press, in spite of an 
overwhelming majority of pro-war opinion, could have influenced 
our mind to stray from the righteous cause. Reasoning about it, 
the chances are that a complete freedom would have redounded to 
the support of the majority idea. Suppression constantly adds to 
a bitterness that would be alleviated by talking. There is an insinua- 
tion that the arguments hidden are very powerful when in reality 
the mere statement of them might be their own refutation. Similarly 
no one would seriously maintain that humane treatment of conscien- 
tious objectors even in the apparently few doubtful cases would have 
led to an appreciable increase of those who feared possible death more 
than sure disgrace and cowardice. That would, indeed, be a frank 
admission of the lack of patriotism among the many or of the worth- 
lessness of our cause. The arbitrary methods in both instances 
must be attributed not to the reasonable needs of democracy, but 
rather to the stupidity that comes with states of high emotional 
excitement. In the degree that an evil has been inflicted unneces- 
sarily on divergent minorities such mode of action must be regarded 
as undemocratic. 

But even when the objective consideration leads to the conclusion 



44 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

that the minority is in the wrong and must not be permitted to continue 
a certain activity, suppression by means of force should be avoided 
wherever possible. Coercion is the antithesis of everything demo- 
cratic; it imposes an external will upon the subject; it acts always 
by limiting the alternative possibilities; it leaves no room for the 
development of that feeling of responsibility which is the sine qua 
non of a moral life. Democracy's method is the word, not the whip. 
The means of social control in a free state is education — the bringing 
of people together into communication, a free press, free speech, 
free schools, the dissemination of knowledge, — these are the means of 
influence that a democracy should use in an endeavor to convince of 
what is reasonable. Whenever it is necessary to substitute some kind 
of physical force for mental persuasion, some element of democracy 
has somewhere been left unfulfilled either on the part of the subject 
(who may not be reasonable enough) against whom it is exercised, or, 
more often, on the part of the agent exercising it. Whenever it is 
possible to use any other method, the use of force becomes reprehensi- 
ble in a democracy. It can only be justified as a lesser evil. "Force 
without stint" is the last resort when every other method has proved 
unavailing. Democracy exists in any situation to the extent that 
force is unnecessary. When we speak of the recent war as a demo- 
cratic war, and the incidental activities, such as the draft, the limita- 
tion of free speech and free press, the curtailment of freedom for those 
who happened technically to be enemy aliens, as being democratic 
in their nature, we are in reality not saying what we mean. These 
activities had to be carried on, not because they were democratic, 
but because external conditions made democracy impossible within; 
i.e., because the world is not yet safe for democracy. 

This basic notion of tolerance, with its implication of the need of 
objective demonstration, of careful judgment, of reluctance to use 
coercive methods, gives the keynote of the treatment in the following 
chapters which deal with the place of ethnic minorities in the state. 
As civilization grows more mature — as in the life of the individual — 
a realization comes upon us that we can afford to be far more tolerant 
than we ever imagined without really disturbing anything vital, and 
even with greater chance for success and happiness. Toward our 



THE DOCTRINES OF DEMOCRACY 46 

individual likes, toward our children, our wives, our neighbors, 
toward our own actions, those of our friends and even of our enemies, 
a liberality of spirit is the only possibly justifiable rule of life. This 
enlightened confidence in the good of divergence rather than the 
primitive suspicion of differences is the temper with which it is neces- 
sary that we approach the problem of the relation of ethnic minorities 
to the state. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 



CHAPTER II 
THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 



Introductory: 
The Jews — A Minority Ethnic Community 

In discussing the place of the Jewish group^ in America we are deal- 
ing with one particular kind of minority divergence. The question 
is not merely one of homogeneity vs. heterogeneity, as is often implic- 
itly assumed in such discussions, and our problem cannot be so easily 
disposed of by pointing out that divergences are necessary for prog- 
ress. Even within the homogeneous nation differences of individual 
character and intelligence, of locality, of economic conditions, of 
political affiliation, of education, will lead to a diversified opinion 
in reference to the important political, industrial, educational, social 
and moral problems of the day. The question before us relates not 
to differentiation as such, but rather to the particular kind of differen- 
tiation due to the retention of ethnic loyalties. The problem that 
faces us is whether ethnic distinctions are to be tolerated in America. 

The supreme difference from our point of view between the ethnic 

*In speaking of the Jewish group as an entity, one must be warned against conceiv- 
ing the Jewish unity as homogeneous or compact — a frequent error among those who 
do not know the Jews intimately. From any point of view that one might measure 
the Jews, their economic or social status, synagogue affihation, attitude toward 
reUgious, educational, social problems and even toward the important question of the 
perpetuation of their own group identity, a great range of divergences will be foimd. 
Even the purity of the race so often taken for granted may be questioned. Far from 
being closely welded together, they have no central organization, and no ecclesiastical 
unity. There are, indeed, many examples of coordinated activities, such as the federa- 
tions of charities; and there are certain bodies of national scope, like the American 
Jewish Committee, the Joint Distribution Committee, and the Zionist Organization of 
America. Such unified activities, however, represent voluntary attempts at cen- 
tralization and cooperation for specific purposes and are for the most part recognition 
of the superior efficiency of coordinated efifort. These societies have no official or 
authoritative power such as a goverimient or a church organization might have. The 
Kehillah (Jewish Community) of New York City is an attempt to organize New York 
Jewry so that there may be the machinery to evolve a representative pubUc opinion 

49 



50 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

group and the other classifications such as political parties, economic 
classes, geographic sections, mentioned in the previous paragraph, 
is that the former is foreign and the latter are indigenous. These 
ethnic distinctions — JeWy Italian, Pole — were formed under the 
conditions of other times and other places. Shall these associations 
made in the past and in other territories persist to-day and into the 
future in the new geographic area and under the new governmental 
unity; or shall all groupings within the nation be the result of condi- 
tions in our own coimtry and of the present period? Further, if 
these foreign groups are to persist, under what limitations may they 
do so? How shall we answer these questions in the light of the 
principles formulated in the first chapter? 

Although our main interest centers about the Jewish group, what- 
ever is said in the following pages concerning the fundamental 
method of adjustment is meant to apply equally to any ethnic minor- 
ity in America which is desirous of maintaining its group identity. 
Great care will need to be observed, however, in applying the main 
principles to take into consideration the differences between one group 
and another and to introduce the relevant qualifications. For 
instance, the fact that political allegiance has been an important 
element in the German's ethnic loyalty — at least until very recently — 
while it is negligible in the case of the Jew, suggests immediately 
that the practical application will be limited by practical differences. 
Nevertheless, general principles there are and the manner of adjust- 
ment proposed for the Jewish group as harmonious with the demo- 
cratic conception is considered as an example of, not an exception., 
to, a general mode of assimilation. 

In treating of the Jews as a foreign ethnic group coordinate with 
other immigrant national groups such as the Italians or the Poles, 

that could make itself felt upon all general Jewish problems. Although the form of 
the organization already exists and a certain amount of good work has been done 
through it during the last ten years since its inception, its aim to become a body 
recognized by the Jews as representative of the community as a whole is far from being 
an accompl^ment. Underlying this disunity and heterogeneity, however, it is 
undoubtedly true that there exists a certain unity of consciousness, perhaps almost a 
feeling of family kinship. This is well evidenced in a number of striking ways: for 
instance, the tendency to marry within the group; to become awakened in the face of 
what may be regarded as common dangers, pogroms, blood accusations, slander of 
the Jewish name; to organize readily for the relief erf Jewish suffering. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 51 

the writer has not failed to reaUze that some objections might be 
raised against such a classification. It may be that all Jews are not 
immigrant in the same sense of the word. In addition to the interest- 
ing but incidental fact that the Jews played an important part in the 
discovery of America and that the first white man who set foot on the 
soil of the New World was in all likelihood a Jew, it is true that the 
settlement of Jews in America dates from the earliest period.^ There 
have been three important migrations of Jews, the Spanish Portu- 
guese up to the close of the eighteenth century, the German Jews from 
1772-1870, the Eastern European Jew^ from 1881-1914. Jews 
played an important part in the War of the Revolution and fought 
on both sides during the Civil War.^ Therefore, some Jews residing 
in America are native in any sense that the term might be used of 
white men in America. On the other hand, of the three million 
Jews' living in America over 85 per cent are either recent immigrants 
of the 'new' migration or the children of such immigrants. These 
are the so-called Yiddish-speaking Jews^ who hail from Russia, 
Poland and Galicia. These Eastern European Jews, who are thus 
the overwhelming majority, present the crucial problem of adjust- 
ment, for the Jews of the older migrations have through inter- 
marriage and through complete taking over of the customs of the 
land (with the exception sometimes of a formal religious adherence) 
so adjusted themselves that the divergence between them and the 
general population is hardly to be noted. It is the Russian Jew who 
particularly impresses himself as a Jew. Coming as he does from the 
ghetto, he comes from a milieu as distinctly Jewish as the social con- 
ditions from which the Italian hails are distinctly Italian. He pre- 
sents a type diverging from the American in physique and personal 
habits; he is unacquainted with English and with the law and usages 
of the new coimtry . He presents a problem of Americanization simi- 
lar to that presented by an Italian, a Pole, or a Czech. Moreover, 
he has lived under the influence of the development of the national 
movement and the renascence of Hebrew literature, which has inbred 



^Article, "United States," in the Jewish Encyclopedia. 
^Peter Wiemik, The Jews in America. 
^The American Jewish Year Book, 1919-1920. 

^.e., Jews who can speak or understand Yiddish. In the second generation they 
usually speak English. 



52 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

him with a national consciousness. The numerical strength of the 
recent migration, furthermore, is of great influence in aiding to keep 
alive the group spirit. It is, therefore, the Eastern European Jew 
of the recent immigration who presents by his peculiar characteristics 
and his highly developed national and cultural consciousness the 
problem of adjustment which faces us and gives to our question also 
the character of a problem of assimilation. 

In the second place the Jew does not owe an allegiance to the 
nation from which he has emigrated in the same way that a German 
or an Italian might; the Jews do not come from their own land. 
This does away in a measure with the apprehension of a double 
political allegiance. Like the Pole, however, he has a potential 
double political loyalty, in the event that a Jewish state be reestab- 
lished in Palestine.^ Here, too, there is a qualification. The Polish 
State was destroyed only in comparatively recent times, and most 
Poles who live here were bom on Polish soil. It is two thousand 
years since the Jews have had a state, and the Jews that we have in 
mind were born on other than Palestinian soil. Since there are 
fifteen million Jews, and Palestine can accommodate only three mil- 
lion, the mass of Jews living in America will never experience a double 
political allegiance. Moreover, the Palestinian State will in all 
likelihood be reestablished under conditions which will make the 
question of a double political allegiance academic. However, in 
spite of the improbability that the Jews will ever be involved in a 
dual political allegiance, a discussion which would neglect even this 
possibility would hardly deserve to be considered as adequate.^ 

To treat the Jews as forming a religious group parallel with Protest- 
ants and Catholics would certainly not be sufficient. Even in the 
case of many other nationalities it would be a mistake to fail to 
recognize that religion plays a large part and is often synonymous 
with the national spirit. Yet in no case is religion coextensive with 
nationality as in the case of the Jews. While all Poles are Catholics, 
not all Catholics are Poles. There are verv few Jews, however, who 



^This sentence, as well as most of this book, was written prior to or during the 
Peace Conference. 
2See Chap. V. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 53 

are not Jews by birth; and Jews by birth even when they are not 
positively affiliated with any synagogue are seldom professedly 
members of any other religious denomination. The intimate con- 
nection between ethnos and religion in the Jewish group will not be 
without its effect upon the discussion of our problem. However, to 
consider the Jews as forming only a church would conceal the funda- 
mental issue in our problem. 

Such procedure would fail to take into consideration what is of 
most importance to hold in mind, that we are dealing with a com- 
munity of men who have characteristics diverging from the general 
population, not merely with divergent doctrines. The Jews have an 
identity of race, a community in history, social traditions, religion, 
language and literature, a consciousness of these common possessions 
and a hope and possibility of being reestablished as a nationality in 
Palestine.^ Our problem rises from the desire of the Jews to maintain 
their identity and to live the life of Jews in the midst of the social 
conditions of a divergent environment. 

Although the purpose is to propose a solution to this problem 
harmonious with principle, the plan must be more than a theoretical 
conception. We are confronted with a practical need, not merely 
with an academic issue. An analysis will be made of the various 
types of adjustment already suggested in current practice and 
literature with the view of determining which of these will fulfill 
in the greatest possible degree the demands of our democratic criteria. 
This method is in agreement with the attitude that looks upon 
democracy as relative. We must accept the adjustment that has a 
possibility of being translated into a realizable program. No 
"counsel of social perfection" is premeditated, but a plan which with 
full regard for the circumstances and conditions recommends itself 
as a liberal solution. 

The modes of adjustment are usually in these discussions pictured 
as representing two possibilities : either total assimilation or complete 
retention of the group identity. Such a broad division suggests the 

^It has been frequently pointed out that the consciousness of race and ethnic unity 
is more important than actual identity. The psychological force is what motivates. 
Thus the purity of race may not be actual, but merely assumed; the language may be 
spoken or merely waiting to be revived; the land may be possessed or merely loved. 



54 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

vital issues involved. Nevertheless, it leaves room for so many 
unanswered questions and disturbing implications as to make discus- 
sion unprofitable. A closer examination of current thought and 
practice will reveal that there are at least four possible broad methods 
of adjustment, two which look toward absorption and two which in 
some form or other provide for the perpetuation of the individuality 
of the ethnic group. The analysis into four instead of two theories 
is important; it serves to make clear the objections and limitations 
which are obscured by the more general treatment. Too often each 
position fixes its attention and bases its opposition on those considera- 
tions which the other side would immediately concede were they 
presented unequivocally. The juxtaposition of the several possible 
modes of adjustment will bring out clearly the issues really at stake 
and narrow down the discussion to the questions which are in fact 
relevant. The carelessness in the analysis of the question has been 
in a great measure an obstruction to a satisfactory solution of this 
intricate problem. What is necessary in order to reach an acceptable 
settlement is not so much persuasive arguments calculated to induce 
a change of heart as a more discriminating treatment that will show 
what is as well as what is not involved. 

The four theories the criticism of which will constitute the analysis 
of our problem are (a) the 'Americanization' Theory; (6) the 'Melting 
Pot' Theory; (c) the 'Federation of Nationalities' Theory; (d) the 
'Community' Theory. The names with which the theories presented 
have been captioned are phrases of common usage chosen because they 
immediately suggest the central tendency if not all the implications. 
Indeed, it may at times seem that the interpretation is too strictly 
literal and the proponents of a certain theory may claim that they 
never meant to imply so much. The actual number of theories no 
doubt is equal to the various modes of procedure and there are times 
when it would be diflScult to classify any particular instance definitely 
within one class. Obviously, however, the very purpose of formula- 
tion is to bring distinctions into clear relief and to make explicit 
considerations which are usually forgotten or underemphasized. 

The present chapter will deal with the first three of the theories — 
with those which are considered inadequate from the point of view 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 55 

of the principles developed in the foregoing analysis of democracy. 
The 'Community' theory and its implications will receive separate 
consideration in Chapter III. 

II 

The 'Americanization' Theory^ 

According to this position America is pictured as already populated 
with a fairly homogeneous type, which both in race and culture has 
Anglo-Saxon aflSliations. Even if these, say the proponents of this 
theory, who are conceived to be the 'real' Americans are not actually 
in numerical majority, their type ought to prevail nevertheless. 
The main point is that all newcomers from foreign lands must as 
quickly as possible divest themselves of their old characteristics, and 
through intermarriage and complete taking over of the language 
customs, hopes, aspirations of the American type obliterate all ethnic 
distinctions. They must utterly forget the land of their birth and 
completely lose from their memory all recollection of its traditions 
in a single-minded adherence to American life in all its aspects. 
The kind of life proper for America is regarded as a matter to be 
decided altogether by the Anglo-Saxon and by those who have be- 
come assimilated.^ The foreigners must mould themselves into the 
ready-made form. They must do all the changing; the situation is 
not to be changed by them. 

This point of view is often illustrated in the attitude toward what 
is called the 'new' immigration. In the 'old' immigration from 1820 
to 1880, the North Europeans predominated. It was made up mainly 
of Swedes, Norwegians, English, Irish, Scotch, and Germans. This 
immigration is in current text-books regarded as superior because the 
immigrants approximate in physical type the early American pioneers 

^For writings which exemphfy this attitude ^wholly or in part, see Ross, The Old 
World in the New; Grant, The Passing of the Great Race; Woodruff, The Expansion of 
Races; Brandt, Anglo-Saxon Supremacy. 

^Of course, it is not only those of Anglo-Saxon lineage that hold to this theory; 
one is as like as not to find those whose families have lived longest in America 
liberal toward the foreigners. Indeed, it very often happens that an insistence 
upon complete obliteration of foreign characteristics comes from those who have been 
Americanized comparatively recently and who, not being so sure of themselves, perhaps, 
must necessarily demonstrate their Americanism. 



56 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

and show in language and culture a close kinship. On the other hand 
the new immigration since 1880, of Southern and Eastern Europeans, 
is regarded as inferior and even dangerous, on account of the diver- 
gence from the stocks of the older immigrants. These latter are 
brachycephalic, small in stature, dark-eyed and dark-haired, and 
odious comparisons are drawn with the northerners, who tend to be 
dolichocephalic, tall, blue-eyed, and fair-haired. Virtue and the good 
are seen to be in direct relation to the type represented by the origi- 
nal pioneers, and divergence from this fixed standard is conceived of 
as an inferiority. 

So untrue to the facts and so inconsistent with the spirit of democ- 
racy does such a scheme of 'Americanization' seem to the reason- 
able mind that the question may be raised whether such an idea is 
really anywhere entertained; whether in reality it is not an exag- 
gerated statement of a very reasonable demand to have the foreigner 
acquaint himself with the existing American institutions and adjust 
himself to the new life with a regard for the purposes and ideas of the 
American people. Unfortunately, however, the opposite is rather the 
case. 'Americanization,' in the sense defined here, is the accepted 
current theory and practice so far as most of the important agencies 
dealing with this problem are concerned, and it is to be feared that 
with the intensification of feeling resulting from the war this tendency 
will receive an added impetus. The following instances will perhaps 
suflBce to show that the foregoing is no mere academic analysis. 

Most striking from the point of view of the particular problem 
before us, the task of assimilating the Jew, is the work of the Educa- 
lltional Alliance, the largest Jewish social settlement in this country. 
It was founded over twenty-five years ago and was one of the first 
to recognize the importance of the problem of the adjustment of the 
immigrant to the new life in America. Situated in the heart of the 
East Side, in the midst of a district densely populated with immigrant 
Jews, it conceived its problem to be the complete de-orientalization 
of the Russian Jew, the ironing out of all those characteristics which 
stamped him a foreigner. Although the neighborhood in which it is 
situated is the centre of the 'intelligentsia' of the ghetto, and repre- 
sents in many ways a high status of literary culture, the Alliance 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 57 

has remained completely oblivious to the possibilities of cultural 
and spiritual contribution inherent in the life of the people. A great 
deal of valuable work has undoubtedly been done, in the teaching 
of English and civics, in the industrial classes, and in the provision 
for recreation. But to Jewish things, the attitude has been negative. 
A 'religious school' and Sabbath services for children have, indeed, been 
conducted, but in the manner and spirit antagonistic to the concep- 
tions of the Russian Jew for whom the institution was created.^ 
Whatever was most vital and spontaneous in the neighborhood 
received no support, and often as far as lay in its power was sup- 
pressed in the single effort to make 'good Americans' out of the Rus- 
sian Jew. 

Naturally, the confidence of the Russian Jews was never gained 
and a rift of misunderstanding has always existed between the Educa- 
tional Alliance and the East Side. It has never ceased to be regarded 
as an institution from the outside world condescendingly philan- 
thropic. Thus it missed a wonderful opportunity for working out a 
democratic scheme of assimilation and for helping a neighborhood 
full of cultural forces and idealistic tendencies to find itself in Ameri- 
can life and to contribute to it. Even from its own point of view of 
Americanization it has not accomplished its function, for it has 
been only an incidental force in the inevitable process of the Ameri- 
canization of the population of the East Side. It has failed to add 

*As a matter of fact, though the Alliance exists for the Russian Jew, one is led to 
suspect in reading the annual reports that it was not his benefit solely that motivated 
the activities. The institution was not an expression of neighborhood feeling, but was 
the creation of those Jews who lived uptown, partly it would seem for their own 
protection. These Jews who had come to America between 1850 and 1870 had 
risen to position in American life, and had become at least in their own eyes 
thoroughly assimilated. They feared that the peculiar ways of the newcomers might 
reflect upon them since all Jews are generally regarded by the non-Jewish community 
as "being responsible one for another." Consequently the Educational Alliance was 
founded, to educate the immigrants out of their old ways so that they might not dis- 
turb the peace and good will that the older inhabitants had attained. In this they 
meant no unkindness, perhaps. They knew that they had been successful in their 
own struggle for a place in American life, and threw themselves wholeheartedly into 
the task of making the immigrants as closely as possible according to their own image. 
One must, of course, recognize that on the part of some there was a real humanitarian 
(though perhaps not intelligent) motive; but the feeUng of need of self-defense stands 
out too clearly and moulds the character of the work only too evidently. See Annual 
Reports, 1893-1908, especially Dec., 1896, pp. 24-16; Jan., 1898, p. 34 £E.; 1901, pp. 36, 
37; 1903, pp. 79-80-8; 1906, p. 52. 



58 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

to the general Americanizing influence of the social and educational 
environment what it might have added — and what alone could have 
justified its existence as a Jewish institution — a finer interpretation 
of Americanism in the light of Jewish thought and an enrichment of 
American life through a utilization of the spiritual forces inherent in 
the life of these foreign-born Jews. Perhaps its saddest contribution 
is its influence upon other institutions. In its lack of sympathy and 
at times antagonism to things Jewish it struck a false note which was 
reechoed in many subsequent attempts. Since the Alliance came 
first, is the largest institution of its kind, and had an unusually 
powerful backing, it was naturally followed by other institutions, 
with the result that Jewish social work has received an impetus 
contrary to the ideas of sympathy, tolerance and respect for expres- 
sion of personality so necessary in the democratic ideal. ^ 

The New York public schools offer another example of an un- 
exampled opportunity for intelligent work with immigrant people 
wasted through lack of understanding. In no city in the country is 
the problem of greater importance than here, where the majority of 

^After careful consideration the writer believes that these strictiu-es are necessary 
to state the plain truth. Nevertheless, the following qualifications are equally neces- 
sary to avoid a false impression. The criticism is against the Americanization policy 
of the Alliance which it regards as its essential work. There is no desire to imply 
that the Alliance has not been useful in furnishing certain excellent activities such as 
its various classes, its reading room, its gymnasium, etc. Furthermore, not all the 
directors are at one in regard to the policy. There are some liberal influences and in 
recent years these have tended to multiply. The Twenty-fifth Annual Report shows 
a delightful change in attitude toward the immigrant from the monotonous unvarying 
indictment of the reports from 1893 to 1908. It is for the first time discovered that 
Jewish and Hebrew conceptions have much in common with American ideas and that 
assimilation of the Russian Jew to the ideals of America ought not to be very difficult 
(see speech of Justice Greenbaum); while in all the previous reports the Russian 
Jews are pictured as unfortunates coming from a benighted country whose govern- 
ment is so different from our own, etc. The change can be traced to certain very 
definite factors. I am informed, however, from authoritative sources that the old 
forces still have considerable potency and that it is too early to conclude that a real 
change of heart has come about in the controlling policy. Finally, it is important to 
note that the workers of the institution have not all or at all times reflected the opinion 
of the directors, and much of the good work of the Alliance was done in spite of stub- 
born opposition. The tragic struggle and martyrdom of David Blaustein, a man who 
had an unusually fine insight into the problem and whose dream of a "People's Palace" 
might be regarded as the bridge between the older humanitarian conception of the 
"Settlement" and the modern democratic notion of the "Community Centre," is 
perhaps too well known to need recounting here (see Memoirs of David Blaustein by 
Miriam Blaustein). 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 59 

the population are foreign-born or the children of foreign-born. 
The Jewish children alone represent over forty per cent of the general 
school population, while in some neighborhoods they number over 
ninety-five per cent. There are many examples of kindly sympathy 
and understanding on the part of individual teachers and principals, 
but the attitude of the official system is intolerant. The following 
reply given recently by the Superintendent of the New York Public 
Schools to a query as to his conception of Americanization reflects the 
official attitude: "Americanization is a spiritual thing difficult of de- 
termination in mere language. Broadly speaking, we mean by it an 
appreciation of the institutions of this country, absolute forgetfulness 
of all obligations or connections with other countries because of descent 
or birth. "^ There is a realization here that the problem must be seen 
through the positive terms of a loyalty to the new life, but the nega- 
tive attitude toward the past of the immigrant's life is still conceived 
of as being an essential part of the process of assimilation. 

An attitude even more disappointing is represented by the "Ameri- 
canization" policy suggested in Professor Cubberley's Changing 
Conceptions of Education.^ It is quoted at length, because it is such a 
clear and full statement of the position, and because it offers an 
excellent basis for a critical analysis of this theory of assimilation. 

About 1882, the character of our immigration changed in a very remarkable 
manner. Immigration from the north of Europe dropped off rather abruptly, and in 
its place immigration from the south and east of Europe set in and soon developed 
into a great stream. After 1880, southern Italians and Sicilians; people from all parts 
of that medley of races known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Czechs, Moravians, 
Slovak, Poles, Jews, Ruthenians, Croations, Servians, Dalmatians, Slovenians, 
Magyars, Roumanians, Austrians and Slavs, Poles and Jews from Russia began to 
come in great numbers. After 1900, Finns from the north, driven out by Russian 
persecution, and Greeks, Syrians and Armenians from the south, have come in great 
numbers to our shores. 

These southern and Sastern Europeans are of a very different type from the north 
European who preceded them. Illiterate, docile, lacking in self-reliance and initiative 
and not possessing the Anglo-Teutonic conceptions of law, order and government, 
their coming has served to dilute tremendously our national stock, and to corrupt our 

^Italics mine. The Evening Post, August 9, 1918. 
^Riverside Educational Monographs, 1909. 



60 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

civic life. The great bulk of these people have settled in the cities of the North Atlantic 
and North Central states, and the problems of housing and living, moral and sanitary 
conditions, honest and decent government, and proper education have everywhere 
been made more difficult by their presence. Everywhere these people tend to settle in 
groups or settlements, and to set up here their national manners, customs and observ- 
ances. Our task is to break up their groups or settlements, to assimilate and amalgamate 
these people as a part of our American race, and to implant in their children, so far as 
can be done, the Anglo-Saxon conception of righteousness, law and order and popular 
government, and to awaken in them reverence for our democratic institutions and for 
those things in our national life which we as a people hold to be of abiding worth.^ 

These complacent statements were not intended perhaps for 
careful analysis or discriminating examination and it may be incon- 
siderate to subject them to undue scrutiny; especially since the new 
situation has given us changed prejudices that will no longer permit 
us to mention all of these various peoples in one breath of denuncia- 
tion and to hold up the hyphenate Anglo- Teutonie conception of law, 
order and government, for universal admiration. But, while names 
may be changed, unfortunately enough the underlying attitude to- 
ward the foreigner remains the same in most that goes by the name of 
Americanization. It is of utmost importance to point out the funda- 
mental errors in this mode of approach. 

In the first place we would be suspicious of the lumping of some 
twenty-five various groups together on the basis that they are not 
North Europeans and then following the argument on the assumption 
that they are pretty nearly alike in reference to a few chosen qualities. 
As a matter of fact the differences between certain of the specified 
peoples and others will be found to be greater in reference to some or 
all of the particular qualities mentioned (conceptions of law, cleanli- 
ness, literacy, initiative, etc.) than is their difference from the average 
American or from the older stocks. It is, of course, not true that 
every one of these groups is, generally speaking, inferior to the older 
stocks in all of the qualities mentioned; in reference to certain 
qualities some of the stocks would seem to be decidedly superior! 
But apart from the facts at issue, what is most objectionable is the 
prejudgment of hosts of men on the basis that they do not belong to a 

»pp. 16-16. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 61 

certain favored group. Not only do these groups diflFer one from 
another, but the individuals within each group vary. 

Apart from the dubious assumption of the superiority of one race 
over another, whatever evidence we have should utterly refute the 
idea that knowing a man's race you could know very much about his 
mental and moral characteristics. The variability amongst individ- 
uals of the same race and the overlapping of one race with another 
are so great in the measurement of any trait in original nature, that 
'race' becomes a useless criterion for determining an individual's 
place on any scale that one might choose to measure. The one fact 
of racial origin (at any rate, with reference to all white races) means 
nothing. This is the scientific testimony^ which together with a 
democratic faith in the value of all human personalities might have 
led to a more tolerant attitude. Such wholesale condemnation 
runs counter current to the first requisite condition of democracy, 
that the unique make-up of individuals be taken into consideration. 

It is erroneous to fly to the conclusion that the inferiorities and evils ^ 
when they do exist are caused by the 'race' of the immigrant. What 
is more probable is that social and governmental conditions in other J 
lands are to be blamed. In that case our theory of amelioration 
would certainly be affected. Indeed, it is also possible that some 
measure of the evils of crowded tenements and poor sanitation are 
to be traced to our own failure to deal adequately with the problem 
and perhaps even to our desire to exploit the immigrant. To throw 
the entire blame on the vague 'race' of the immigrant often serves 
merely to obscure the real causes and to hinder an adequate solution. 
It tends to shift attention from the true evils involved and from the 
reforms really required. Sociological theorists are only too often 
innocent supporters of what are in actuality the prejudices and 
interests of the classes. 

America, it should be remembered, does not exist for the benefit of 
anyone class of persons, whether we consider the grouping economic, 
political, or racial. The idea that the predominating stock of the V. 
inhabitants of the United States is Anglo-Saxon is a myth. The ' 

^Thomdike, Educational Ptyehology, Vol. III. 



OSS THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

composite American is a multiform hyphenate : Scotch-Irish-English- 
German-Spanish-Polish-Jewish-Italian-Russian, etc., etc. All of 
these are represented in fair numbers in the new "Galilee of the 
Nations." To conceive of America as belonging exclusively to one 
race, because priority of habitation has given it a divine right to 
possession of the land, is a notion contrary to democracy. Indeed, 
this minority, due to its priority and to the undoubted excellence of 
native gifts, has stamped its culture ineffaceably upon American life, 
its language, its political organization and spiritual aspirations. 
The influence of this group outweighs, justly, that to which its numeri- 
cal strength would entitle it. To say, however, that American 
institutions and forms of life have once for all been fixed by the fathers 
of our country and that the newcomers, the majority, must mould 
themselves into these forms, is itself contradictory to the principle 
of freedom upon which these forms are built and of which they 
are but a particular and perhaps inadequate expression. Our new- 
comers had no voice in the formation of these institutions, and to 
force them upon the immigrant without regard to his consent and 
without permitting his own personality to modify them in the least 
is an arbitrariness suggestive of tyranny rather than democracy. 
Many of these foreigners fleeing from religious, cultural, and political 
oppression come to America to seek the spiritual freedom which the 
constitution grants but which an interpretation in accordance with 
this line of thought completely abrogates. Of what significance is 
the opportunity of economic advancement, if it must be bought at the 
price of suppression of individuality.? Even under the conditions of 
Russian persecution the Jew was permitted to speak his own language 
and to live in many senses an independent cultural life. But if 
a conception of Americanism as here outlined is to be followed, such 
rights would be taken from him, in this country whose distinct and 
peculiar excellence lies in its gift of freedom. The result of such a 
program of Americanization is a tyranny over the beliefs and minds 
of men worse than the economic and political slavery from which 
they fled. Those who would put the immigrant into an American 
straight-jacket may be superficially American in that they attempt 
to adjust to the established forms of American life; they are not true 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 63 

to the fundamental spirit of American life and American institutions, 
which is to liberate and not to suppress the individuality of men. 

Thus again this conception of Americanization fundamentally 
transgresses the first doctrine of democracy, that the unique individ- 
ual must be taken into account in considering the end of his own 
development and the standard of his own good. The theory under 
discussion implies the unquestionable superiority of one group, of the 
Anglo-Saxon race and culture, and proceeds to judge the value of the 
other groups by their approximation to this standard. There is no 
question here regarding the desirability of institutions and concep- 
tions objectively demonstrable to be beneficial to the generality of 
men. Cleanliness and righteousness must be enforced because they 
are universally admitted to be good, not because they are peculiarly 
Anglo-Saxon virtues. Obedience to these cannot be regarded as an 
external criterion, for they serve for the good of all men. Perhaps it 
is even necessary in practice to go a little further and to maintain — 
although this may not be altogether rationally defensible — that 
priority of occupation does give a certain preference to the established 
group apart from or in addition to any inherent excellence. But the 
tendency to believe that America exists solely and exclusively for 
the type of life represented by one particular group, must be chal- 
lenged. The assumption of total and exclusive superiority on the 
part of one group amounts to the imposition of an external standard 
which does not reckon with those concerned and savors of a theocra- 
tic or of an aristocratic state rather than of a democratic one. No 
room is left for taking the nature and personality of the immigrant 
into consideration; his physical characteristics, his individuality, 
his ideals and culture are contemptuously ignored as unworthy of 
consideration. The most profound feeling in American tradition is 
violated, the fundamental intuition upon which American institu- 
tions and political organizations are based, namely, a decent respect 
for the worth of personalities which are not altogether like ours and a 
sincere faith in their potentialities. 

But not even in a democracy, one might say, are all individuals 
to be tolerated and every inclination permitted to have its way. 
Perhaps the tenor of the argument even thus far will carry the con- 



64 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

viction that no individualistic position is proposed here and more 
will be said later explicitly on this question. The point urged, 
however, is that no neglect of interests or suppression of personalities 
is permissible in a democracy without some definite demonstration 
of the evil effects. Even criminals cannot be convicted without 
due process of law and in accordance with democratic notions they 
are to be considered innocent until proved guilty. In the face of the 
fact that the United States is richer, more powerful, more highly 
cultured, and its moral outlook as lofty as it was in the days of the 
fathers of our country, in spite of a continuous stream of immigra- 
tion, positive evidence would be needed to prove that our fundamental 
institutions are being threatened. Problems have been created; 
but who can say that even these problems have not within them the 
seed of a contribution? The evil result is often due to the lack of 
understanding in meeting the new problem presented rather than 
to something inherent in the situation. The difference between 
the democratic attitude and the autocratic one would be just this: 
the democratic attitude would have faith in the icorth of a personality 
until positive proof of its inferiority were presented; the autocratic 
would condemn without proof. What is America if not liberal and 
generous? Not that which is the least, but that which is the most com- 
patible with its integrity must be done. 

ni 

Americanization as Likemindedness 

The emphasis on homogeneity which characterizes the Americani- 
zation theories undoubtedly finds justification in the need for national 
unity. If the citizens of the state are to act upon their affairs with 
reference to each other's interests and for the common good of the 
whole community, a certain degree of likemindedness must un- 
doubtedly exist among them. Without common interests crystal- 
lized into common purposes, without the means of communicating 
these purposes and the relevant facts and ideas through a common 
language, without opportimity for general discussion of common 
problems and for participation in common tasks the democratic ideal 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 65 

of government by the people remains impossible of attainment. 
More than this the nation may fall prey to dissension from within 
and present a weakened front to inimical forces from without. Apart 
from the cultivating and humanizing influence that the inculcation 
of any great tradition may have, Americanization finds its irrefutable 
defense in the need of likemindedness to safeguard the very existence 
of the state. 

However proper in its motives the current 'Americanization' theory 
with its connotation of "breaking up communities," of "ironing out 
differences," of casting the immigrant into the mould of a standardized 
American is false in effect, not only because it does not give con- 
sideration to the personality of the immigrant, not only because its 
method is psychologically indefensible, but especially because it 
fails to grasp adequately the basic principle of its own purpose, 
that of creating likemindedness. Its conception of likemindedness 
is superficial and primitive. It is the application of a primitive idea 
of what 'like' means to a complex modern social situation that 
makes the 'Americanization' theory, as ordinarily understood and 
advocated, so tragically erroneous. 

The hiatus between the means applied and the results expected, 
which is so striking to the civilized person when he observes the manip- 
ulations of magic among primitive men, in all likelihood does not at 
all disturb the savage. No feeling of a gap is present in his mental 
reaction toward these ceremonies. According to his mental cate- 
gories likeness of sense and emotional appeal gives the impression 
of complete similarity, and similarity somehow has a causative 
potency. To make an eflBgy of the enemy and stick daggers into it, 
is felt to be 'like' doing the real thing, and is accompanied by a feeling 
of satisfaction and accomplishment. A discriminating intellect, 
intent upon the practical outcome, would not feel such an action 
as relevant to or 'like' the real task. When it seems apparent even 
to the primitive mind that the two actions are not identical, there is 
attributed to the similar action a potency which causes the desired 
action to occur. It is vaguely felt that the dagger piercing the effigy 
in some way causes the destruction of the human object of hatred. 
Similarity to senses and emotions assumes a causative power. 



66 THEOEIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

Whenever a new problem occurs in a highly emotional situation, 
undiscriminating minds will tend to respond in the fashion characteris- 
tic of primitive men. Burning and burying the Kaiser in effigy 
undoubtedly gave those who participated in such ceremonies a 
feeling of satisfaction, as if they had really accomplished something. 
What is satisfying to the senses and the emotions tends to be totally 
satisfying even when the rational end of the action is not fulfilled. 
Naturally such emotional and sensory responses often prevent the 
attention from centering itself upon the real work to be done. 

The conception of likemindedness underlying the current 'Ameri- 
canization' theory partakes of the primitive notion that 'like' means 
similar to senses and emotions and that it implies causative potency. 
The attention centres upon outward conformity, which is conceived 
as likemindedness and as being productive of unity. Men are 
thought of as being alike when they look alike, when they dress alike, 
when they speak the same language, and these external similarities 
seem to be considered sufficient for bringing about an inner national 
unity. Differences in manner, speech and dress have a disturbing 
effect upon the attention, and if only these distinctions could be 
eliminated, it is felt, what harmony there would be ! Hence the tre- 
mendous anxiety to have the races fuse, to do away with dissimilar 
customs, to abolish foreign languages. If all Americans could be 
made to seem alike, unity would be assured. Similarity will bring 
about unity somehow, even if in itself it is not unity. 

This desire for conformity, an emotional response in a situation 
which is felt as dangerous, is increased further by the apprehension 
of public opinion. It is good to be able to demonstrate Ameri- 
canization. Directors of social settlements and principals of schools 
are anxious to be able to show that those in their charge are American. 
To permit or promote differences is not quite safe; they may imply ' 
divergences not in harmony with a one hundred per cent patriotism. 
To level down to an accepted standard which everyone can recognize 
and no one question is the easiest and the most practical plan. 

There is a third force, perhaps, in addition to a primitive psychology 
and the apprehension of public opinion, that tends to stress the im- 
portance of conformity, namely the American aptitude for standardi- 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 67 

zation. Machinery has been standardized; clothes, food, school 
buildings, handwriting have all been standardized. Why not 
standardize personalities? And educational thought forthwith busies 
itself with the standard American, to be produced with the minimum 
of effort and most quickly by the appropriate educational machinery. 

A conception of likemindedness which identifies it with conformity 
is both inadequate and erroneous. It permits outward resemblances 
to hide inward disunities ; it crushes inner unities for the sake of out- 
ward conformities. In accordance with such a notion the unscrupu- 
lous politician and the exploiter of the social good may be considered 
the best Americans, and the foreign-tongued social reformer, even 
were both his theory and practiced plan valid, would tend to be 
considered un-American. 

A more adequate conception of a true Americanization policy 
will appear if we scrutinize somewhat more carefully the word 'like- 
mindedness.' 'Like,' if it is to mean anything, must signify not a 
vague general resemblance, but similarity in reference to the specific 
interest. Sticking daggers into an effigy is not 'like' killing the man, 
because in reference to the essential purpose there is no resemblance. 
Were we interested in race likeness, language likeness, or dress like- 
ness the current Americanization notion might satisfy. But what we 
are interested in is likemindedness. 

The word 'mindedness' implies a likeness not alone in reference to 
means. Mind signifies purposeful action, and the term 'likeminded- 
ness' when used as a justification of Americanism must direct itself 
to a unity of social aims, beyond all else. In so far as likemindedness 
requires conformities in manner and language as prerequisites, it will 
be necessary to insist on these. But sheer destruction of divergences 
without reference to the ultimate purpose cannot be defended on 
grounds of 'likemindedness.' What the promotion of unity implies 
is an emphasis upon the deep-lying purposes of American tradition 
rather than an exclusive attention upon its instruments or upon the 
negative task of the elimination of possible disturbances. 

Americanization is a positive task, not a negative one. Forgetting 
other languages and other traditions, destruction of other spiritual 
allegiances is not an essential part of it, or if it is truly seen any part 



68 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

of it at all. Americanization is a constructive work of developing 
knowledge, ideas, social attitudes; conceptions of law, order, govern- 
ment; interpretations of duty, freedom and the meaning of life. 
It implies above all the creation of a psychological attitude of willing- 
ness to serve the nation rather than the seK, the family, the class, or 
the group exclusively. How inadequate is that notion which identi- 
fies training for citizenship with 'coaching' on the answers to questions 
which will be asked of the applicant for citizen papers ! How meagre 
is the plan which looks only to conformities in dress and speech. 
But even more objectionable is the current 'Americanization' theory, 
which regards the uprooting of foreign tradition as a necessary 
antecedent to true assimilation. If Americanism has to do with 
social ideals, is it not quite possible that it will have kinship with other 
traditions.? May not understanding of another tradition be an aid 
rather than a hindrance ? 

A little thought would reveal that not only is there a possibility 
of common elements in two traditions: there is rather a necessity. 
Any social tradition which has lived for some time embodies institu- 
tions, customs, ideas which promote the living together of men. 
These may have reference to local conditions, to particular periods, 
to certain types of men. But it would argue a disparateness which is 
untenable in human affairs, to maintain that all of these are sectional 
and particularistic and that there are not some which embody 
elements of the universal. With the length of a tradition and with 
the breadth of its experience, the chances for possibility of wide appli- 
cation become greatly increased. Undoubtedly there will be found 
elements in the European traditions which can be of service in the 
upbuilding of American life. For Americanism itself is not exclusive 
and sectarian; its ends are broadly human. A sympathetic and 
constructively minded statesman or educator with insight into the 
nature of social tradition would immediately recognize that every 
foreign system has within it possibilities of interpretation in terms of 
American life. The most stupid thing in the 'Americanization' pro- 
gram is the failure to recognize that the morality, folkways, ideas 
and aspirations of the immigrant groups could be utilized for the 
development of true Americans out of immigrants. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT b9 

With contemptuous neglect, often with direct opposition, the cur- 
rent 'Americanization' theory has tended to break down deep-laid 
traditional social attitudes of respect for family, for kin and for the 
ethnic community; for the ideas of duty, service and self-restraint 
that such loyalties involve. The public school system has not suc- 
ceeded in implanting equally deep-rooted conceptions of service; 
it has not realized how interwoven with the integrity of the family, 
and of the "consciousness-of-kind" groups, is the loyalty to the state 
and to society as a whole. The assumption was that breaking down 
a loyalty of seemingly smaller range leads of itself to a wider loyalty. 
It does not, necessarily. More often it leads to license and to individ- 
ualism in the bad sense of that word. The notorious increase of 
criminality in the American-born second generation is due to the 
breach made in the social tradition of the family. Very often the 
foreign system of traditional morality breaks down not because it is 
inferior in aspiration but because it cannot adapt itself to apply 
to the new conditions. In such cases it should be the policy to rein- 
terpret and apply in reference to the new conditions, not to destroy 
it or to permit it to disintegrate in the transition from one environ- 
ment to another. Once morality and idealism have been implanted 
these attitudes may be transferred from one social situation to 
another much more easily than they can be developed altogether 
anew. Much of the lofty idealism and exalted loyalty among Ameri- 
cans of foreign near-ancestry are attitudes transferred from their 
ethnic tradition to the new life. It is possible to speak of justice, 
duty, service and loyalty, of law, order and government in other 
languages than English. Yet too often does the 'Americanization' 
theory imply that righteousness is Anglo-Saxon exclusively and that 
foreign languages ought therefore not to be tolerated. If the concept 
of likemindedness be carefully borne in mind it must lead to the 
realization that Americanization will be served very often by a con- 
servation of social ideals even when they are foreign rather than by a 
destruction of them. 

If we turn our attention from the objective aspect — ideas, aspira- 
tions, purposes — ^implied in likemindedness to the inner personal 
organic common feeling connoted in the phrase, "to be minded alike," 



70 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

the need for a sympathetic attitude toward the foreigner again becomes 
clear. The immigrant must be made to feel American; it is not 
sufficient that he strive in an objective way or mechanically for ends 
which can be identified as American. For it is such whole-hearted 
emotional identification with the body of citizens which is at the 
basis of a lasting allegiance. Now the current 'Americanization* 
theory, which contemptuously places the immigrant outside of the 
group and gives him a share in the people's heritage only when he 
divests himself of his most significant characteristics, is not calcu- 
lated to promote that feeling of common ownership and responsibil- 
ity which is the sine qua non of the community spirit. How can the 
immigrant feel himself part of the people when those who are recog- 
nizedly of the people place him outside? Such a course must drive 
the self-respecting among the immigrants to a heightened self- 
consciousness which divides his group, in heart, from the American 
people. This attitude taken towards the immigrant acts like anti- 
Semitism toward the Jew, impressing upon him a feeling of separate- 
ness from the general body of citizens. 

The more the immigrant is permitted to retain and to develop his 
own type of life, when these are not detrimental to the general good, 
the more likely will he be drawn to feel that this really is his country. 
The splendid loyalty that immigrants have shown toward America 
and their heartfelt reverence for the new Promised Land are the 
result of no 'Americanization' program, but of living under institutions 
which by their very nature permitted economic advance, educational 
opportunities, and individual freedom in a degree unknown to them 
in the lands of their birth. It is the excellence of American tradition 
working indirectly and spontaneously which Americanizes, not the 
direct application of strict methods. The general work of the public 
schools, giving the individual a better start in life, permitting him 
to make more out of himself, has in all likelihood done more for the 
inculcation of a desire to maintain these institutions than any direct 
teaching could have done. High-handed artificial methods negate 
the natural effect of democratic American life which is to identify 
the good of the individual with the good of the state. If the immi- 
grant is to attain to a whole-hearted allegiance and undivided loyalty 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 71 

to America, he must be regarded as kin with the other citizens, 
i.e., as a man whose personality must be respected, not as an inferior 
being whose individuaUty must be obhterated. 

In yet a third way can the term 'hkemindedness' help to a better 
conception of what proper assimilation means, namely through a 
consideration of the educational method that a developing mind 
implies. In the development of mind, it is necessary to start with 
the present mental situation, with the apperceptive mass of ideas, 
interests and associations. In general education it is the pupil 
that furnishes the method; in the Americanization of the foreigner, 
the latter is the starting point. The teacher must understand the 
tradition and past experiences of the immigrant if he is really to 
develop his mind. He cannot neglect these and get his own thought 
across. The process, too, requires patience, and will be slow and 
developmental rather than hasty and forced. The terms 'break up' 
and 'iron out' should be expunged from the vocabulary of assimila- 
tion. These are not words which are congruous with the ideas of 
growth, implied in the living mind. They savor of the methods of 
Russification that used to be practiced by Russia and of Prussianism 
that used to be practiced by Germany, rather than of the technique 
of democracy in education. Were Americanism conceivable as a 
completed doctrine, handed down through generations by authorita- 
tive interpreters, it would be easier to think of Americanization as 
conformity to a certain fixed type or standard. But, since the demo- 
cratic faith looks upon the living forces in human nature as primary 
and respects personality above all else, standardization of men must 
be recognized as the cardinal sin. 

Weighed in the balance of our first and fundamental criterion of 
democracy — respect for personality — the 'Americanization' theory 
must be found wanting. The tendency to interpret Americanism 
as the culture of one definite race, something well established to 
which the newcomers must completely conform, falls into the cate- 
gory of an absolutistic conception which assumes beforehand what is 
good without relation to the persons affected. By tacitly, if not 
expressly, denying the right of the immigrant to modify and contribute 
to the development of Americanism, the 'Americanization' theory 



72 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

violates that notion which is the quintessence of democracy, namely 
that the person involved must be considered as the end. Neither is 
the second criterion of democracy — a diversity in the environment — 
fulfilled by the 'Americanization' theory. It idealizes a fixed type of 
culture as against a diversified culture enriched by the tradition of 
many peoples. By the elimination of foreign ideas it would indoctri- 
nate the tenets of a nationalistic cult. True liberty is served by the 
enrichment of possibilities, not by the establishment of uniformity. 
Lastly the conception of socialization in the 'Americanization' theory is 
faulty. It breaks down loyalty to the immediate family and to the 
cultural institutions — language, customs, etc., with which it is affili- 
ated. It fails to realize that much of what the man's character is 
depends upon the integrity of these relations. To cap the climax, 
it fails in relation to the problem of affiliating with the new social life. 
Its stress is so negative, constantly emphasizing the danger of the old 
associations, that too little attention is given to the positive task — 
and a task it is — of building up on a firm and profound basis the cul- 
ture of the new land. 

Thus the public school graduate grows up to know that he must 
despise his parents with their poor knowledge of English, that he 
must be thoroughly conversant with the batting averages, and that 
he must possess a large quantity of Americanism — 100 per cent at 
least! But how shall he know the profound quality of America? 
Whether from the point of view of democracy (which may be con- 
sidered idealistic) or from the point of view of efficiency, the current 
'Americanization' theory fails to qualify. Neither reason nor 
practicality can justify it. It can be explained only by an emotional 
hysteria which bids us do something, by the superficial intelligence 
which confuses the uniform with the unified, by the will to mastery 
which sometimes makes us brutally intolerant. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 73 

IV 

The 'Melting Pot' Theory^ 

The 'Melting Pot' theory agrees with the 'Americanization' 
theory in that both look forward to a disappearance of divergent 
ethnic strains and cultures within the unity of American life. Both 
would sever the loyalty to the past lived on a foreign soil. But 
while our first theory tends to look upon Americanism as essentially 
bound up with Anglo-Saxonism and would give the recent immigrant 
no part in the development of American culture, the second theory 
welcomes the contributions that the new racial strains make to 
American life and looks with favor upon the addition of new cultural 
elements. Americanism is conceived of as in the making; something 
representative and growing out of the people that live here rather 
than a definite completed doctrine; something much more of the 
future than of the past. Americanism is a new life to which all can 
contribute. Out of the present heterogeneity of races a new superior 
race is to be formed; out of the present medley of cultures a new, 
richer, more humane civilization is to be created; out of the present 
ferment a new religion will develop representing the spiritual expres- 
sion of the new people, a religion more relevant to modern con- 
ceptions of life than the historical creeds and more tolerant of the 
differences among humankind. 

"America is God's Crucible, the great Melting Pot where all the 
races of Europe are melting and reforming! — ^Here you stand good 
folk, think I, when I see you at Ellis Island, here you stand, in your 
fifty groups, with your fifty languages and histories, and your fifty 
blood hatreds and rivalries. But you won't be long like that, brothers, 
for these are the fires of God you come to — these are the fires of God. 
A fig for your feuds and your vendettas! German and Frenchmen, 
Irishman and English, Jews and Russians, into the Crucible with you 
all! God is making the American! . . . The real American 
has not yet arrived. He is only in the Crucible . I tell you — ^he will be 
the fusion of all races, perhaps the coming superman. 

^For writings indicative of this attitude, see Israel Zangwill, The Melting Pot; 
Francis Kellor, Straight America; Mary Antin, The Promised Land; Walter E. 
Ravage, An American in the Making. 



74 THEORIES OF AMEBICANIZATION 

Yes, East and West, North and South, the palm and the pine, the 
pole and the equator, the crescent and the cross, how the great 
Alchemist melts and fuses them with purging flame! . . . Here 
shall they all unite to build the Republic of Man and the Kingdom of 
God. Ah, what is the glory of Rome and Jerusalem, where all nations 
and races come to worship and look back, compared with the glory 
of America where all nations come to labour and look forward!" 

This theory which Zangwill evolved as the vision of the ultimate 
goal of American life many have formulated on the side of method 
from their experience with the process of Americanization. Those 
who have themselves been immigrants, like Steiner and Ravage, 
social workers with sympathetic insight, like Frances Kellor and 
Jane Addams, and many gifted teachers who have taught the immi- 
grant have realized the inadequacy of the method prescribed by the 
Americanizationists even when they agreed in the ultimate hope of 
converting the foreigner into an American. They saw too many 
examples of elevated character and superior ability to remain con- 
temptuous; they were close enough to the immigrant to see him as 
an individual person, not merely as one of a congregate of "sheenies" 
or of a horde of "wops." So it became clear to them that the social 
and psychological "apperceptive mass" of the immigrant had to be 
taken into consideration, that it was necessary to start from the point 
where he was when he came to our shores, and to work slowly, not 
hastily. This is keener insight into the nature of the immigrant and 
better understanding of the process involved in the making of an 
American.^ 

The 'Melting Pot' theory has a greater respect for the facts 
involved and a better conception of the true psychological method. 
The dubious assumption of the Anglo-Saxon character of the popu- 
lation and of the inferiority of types in the measure that they diverge 
from the North European is not made the basis of a drastic attempt 
to mould all newcomers into the form of the hypothetical American. 
The careless assumption that there is a 'typical American' easily 
identifiable and distributed in great numbers among the population 
has permitted the easy belief that a stamping out of foreign charac- 



'Isrsel Zangwill, The Melting Pot. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 75 

teristics would of itself make a person an American. There has, 
therefore, been a far greater anxiety concerning the elimination of 
differences than careful thought in reference to what is American 
and how to attain it. 'The Melting Pot' theory, less sure that the 
complete and typical American has already been evolved, tends to 
be more constructive in its policy. It is seen clearly that such 
emphasis upon uprooting the tradition as is implied in the 'Ameri- 
canization' theory may lead to the the acquisition of a new culture, 
but merely to the destruction of the old. It understands that a 
loyalty is not to be built upon a disloyalty. To make a good American 
is a positive task; it does not mean to make a bad Italian. It is 
apprehensive of lack of culture much more than it is of a diversified 
culture, and is, therefore, not so quick to condemn the old heritage 
which the immigrant brings with him. It tries rather to preserve 
the old while the new is being formed. 

The 'Melting Pot' theory differs accordingly in the technique of the 
process of assimilation. A lowering of the morale of the immigrant 
is to be avoided. Pride in his past and in his people is to be 
encouraged, for our new American must have self-respect. The 
process is to be gradual, taking into consideration the language, 
customs, and social environment of the pupils, and building up from 
these. Old cherished memories and old ideals are not to be forsaken 
in the anxious endeavor to teach the new. The tragedy of disinte- 
grated families, with a consequent loss of social control is to be 
avoided by keeping the children faithful to the old life while bringing 
the parents nearer to the new. Whatever has been learned concern- 
ing the psychology of the developing mind is to be applied to the 
process of assimilation. The 'Americanization' theory speaks de haul 
en has, the 'Melting Pot' theory is democratic. Not one race is singled 
out as the standard; all the races that play a part in American life 
are conceived of as having a contribution to make. A better under- 
standing of the foreign groups, a spirit of humane toleration, and a 
notion of the dynamic nature of society pervade the Melting Pot 
idea. 

The standards which have been laid down as the criteria of democ- 
racy would seem to be fully satisfied by the second mode of assimila- 



76 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

tion. The 'Melting Pot' theory has a profound respect for the Person. 
He is seen to be the central fact in the situation. Americanism is 
regarded more as a cultural and spiritual expression of the community 
of men who live in America. The citizens of America all participate 
in the creation of the common civilization and have a part in its modi- 
fication. The ideal is here related to the 'persons whom it is to serve. 
The realization of the heterogeneity of our population leads to 
an understanding that the uniqueness of each individual must be 
considered. The enrichment of American culture, through the 
contribution of the many peoples, supports the idea of a diversity in 
the environment which forms our second criterion. Finally, its 
conception of socialization bears in mind the actual social relations 
of the immigrant and reckons with these in building up the loyalty 
to the new life. From all angles the 'Melting Pot' theory is seen to be 
superior to the 'Americanization' theory and to fulfill adequately the 
several criteria of the democratic idea. 

However, self-annihilation is the price that the 'Melting-Pot' 
theory demands while permitting the foreign groups to contribute to 
the life of the new country. It is by losing their own corporate 
existence that the foreign groups are conceived of as becoming part 
of the new nation. The new strains of blood are mingled with the 
old stock through intermarriage; new folkways to make a new 'cake 
of custom,' new ideas are conceived of as enriching the American 
spiritual heritage. But always the community which has made the con- 
tribution itself perishes as it gives forth the products of its own life. 
The 'Melting Pot' theory is adequate only for those groups which are 
willing to give up their identity completely in becoming incorporated 
into the life of America. It is no solution for those who wish to 
participate in American life and yet retain their ethnic identity, 
at least in some manner. These wish to make their contribution 
perennial, not merely a once-for-all contribution. For such groups 
the 'Melting Pot' theory, notwithstanding its superiority of method, 
is quite as inadequate as the 'Americanization' theory, for, in the 
essential, the right to maintain the ethnic identity, both theories are 
ultimately alike; they both lead to complete absorption. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 77 

"But does a group, which needs to be preserved forever, really 
have a contribution to make?" is the doubting query. "If the ethnic 
group really has a contribution to make, why not make it and have 
done? Why continue its existence interminably?" The answer 
of the ethnic groups is implicit in what they wish to preserve — 
namely their culture. 'Melting Pot' theories usually stress the 
contribution in terms of race, for the physical heredity remains a 
potent factor even after amalgamation, entering as it does as a strain 
in the make-up of the individual. The contribution in culture made 
by completely absorbed groups is almost negligible. Few words, 
customs, or ideas are added to the dominant culture by dying immi- 
grant peoples. If the factor of culture is to become an ever present 
force, it is necessary to maintain the social atmosphere in which they 
live. The racial element is transmitted and preserved through the 
germ plasm even after intermarriage, while the perpetuation of cul- 
ture requires social organization. 

Physical heredity transmits itself, so to speak; social heredity, 
language, thought, ideas, etc., which are acquired characteristics 
need institutions to transmit them. This idea becomes even more 
apparent if we draw the important distinction between the two 
meanings of the word 'culture,' the cultural products of a past life and 
the cultural life itself. The objection raised above can apply only 
when we interpret contribution in terms of specific products of past 
life, a word, a doctrine, a social custom. It needs no answer when 
it is interpreted (as of the ethnic groups who wish to retain their 
cultural identity) in terms of the life of a cultural nationality. We 
may as well say, concerning any great man, "Let him give his con- 
tribution and have done. Why prolong his life?" But it is easily 
seen that any man is more than a single statement of his ideas. We 
recognize that as long as he lives he will continue to interpret and 
offer his ideas in new ways and continue to develop new ideas, the 
products of a continuous experience of his personality with situa- 
tions. So, too, the nation must be looked upon as an ethnic 
personality, whose existence is not an idea, but a life. The longer 
it lives, providing it does not stagnate and retrogress, the more it 
has to contribute. Not only the crystallized products of a past life 



78 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

are conceived as being transferred and added to the culture of the new 
land. The ethnic groups are seen as hving and growing communities, 
fruitful in cultural influences, as long as the community maintains 
its vital existence. Not separate, fixed, and abstracted ideas and 
dissociated customs are to be contributed, but a unified life express- 
ing itself in language, social atmosphere, literature and religion. 
It must be carefully borne in mind that it is a life, not the products of 
a life, that these ethnic groups wish to perpetuate for themselves 
and to contribute to America. 

For those ethnic groups which wish to maintain their cultural 
identity neither the 'Americanization' theory nor the *Melting Pot' 
theory can be offered as a solution. Both these theories deprive the 
immigrant groups of the right to perpetuate the group heritage. 
In accordance with them the immigrant groups buy their freedom at 
a cost of suppressing what many may consider of highest worth, 
their distinct cultural and spiritual life. 

Were all foreign groups desirous of fusing and none anxious to 
maintain their ethnic and cultural identity, such a method of assimila- 
tion as our second theory implies would meet the demands of a demo- 
cratic platform. The whole discussion began with the assumption, 
however, that some groups desire to maintain their identity and do 
not want to obliterate themselves. What shall be our attitude 
toward a group that has a conscious desire to maintain its historic 
identity and sets about to organize its life here in accordance with 
this desire? Must such groups be suppressed, as the 'Americaniza- 
tion' theory would imply, in order to insure the unity and perpetuity 
of American life? Or is there a way compatible with the best inter- 
ests of America of preserving freedom for the immigrant group to 
maintain its cultural identity? The following two theories offer solu- 
tions which look to the retention of ethnic and cultural identity of 
foreign immigrant groups in contradiction to the theories already 
presented which lead to total fusion. How do they propose to 
make the adjustment to American life, and do they square with 
our criteria of democracy? 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 79 



The 'Federation of Nationalities' Theory 
Instead of eliminating totally or Kmiting in some degree the 
influence of the ethnic grouping in favor of a racial and cultural 
homogeneity, the point of view underlying the 'Federation of 
Nationalities' idea would make the ethnic group paramount and 
permanent in its influence on American life. The ethnic groupings 
are to be the basic groupings; they are regarded as comparatively 
stable. The purpose of the political organization is to promote and 
in no way hinder their distinctive integrity. 

The basis of this theory rests on the assumption that the ethnic 
quality of an individual determines absolutely and inevitably what 
his nature is to be. "Self-hood ... is ancestrally determined."^ 
This motivating idea is put dramatically in the phrase referring to 
the immigrant, "Whatever else he changes, he cannot change his 
grandfather"; and more fully, "Men may change their clothes, 
their politics, their wives, their philosophies to a greater or lesser 
extent; they cannot change their grandfathers." Since 'race' is 
such an ineradicable and all determining element, it is the central 
fact of any man's life. Government performs its function of freeing 
human capacities only when it exists for the purpose of freeing 
ethnic expression. Its special function is to permit free development 
of the ethnic group, for the individual's happiness is "implied in 
ancestral endowment." 

Consequently, the proper form of government for America in 
accordance with this underlying concept is a "Federal republic; its 
substance a democracy of nationalities, cooperating voluntarily 

*These quotations, as well as those following on pp. 79-80 are from "Democracy 
versus the Melting Pot," Horace S. Kallen, The Nation, May, 1915. 

The articles by Randolph Bourne in The Menorak Journal and Atlantic Monthly and 
other newspaper references are in all likelihood inspired by this article. Dr. Kallen has 
elaborated upon the ideas of nationality implied in this article in his recent book. The 
Structure of Lasting Peace, which applies the concept to the general world situation. 
Without going into greater detail at this point it is suggested that the notion is more 
applicable to the international relations of European peoples, where distinct peoples 
are discernible occupying definite territorities. In America there are no distinct nations 
holding definite territorities in the same sense. The "Poale Zion Yiddishist Nationa- 
lists" have thb conception of nationality as the background of their philosophy. See 
Zhitlowski, Gesammelte Schriften. See also Zimmem, Nationality and Oovemment. 



80 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

and autonomously in the enterprise of self-realization through the 
perfection of men according to their kind." No very clear idea 
of the limitations of such a government is given, but it is emphasized 
that the unity of America should be of a politico-economic nature. 
English, too, is to be a common language, in the sense of a lingua 
franca necessitated by the politico-economic unity. For the expres- 
sion of its cultural and spiritual life, however, each group will depend 
upon the ethnic language, literature, social life and religion, for it 
is only through some ethnic form corresponding to the ethnic original 
racial endowment that true culture and spiritual life can exist. From 
this it may be implied that education should be controlled by the 
ethnic group, and this is the idea tacitly held by some of the Yiddish- 
ist protagonists of the national-culture idea. Throughout the scheme 
proposed prevails the analogy of a federation such as is found in 
Switzerland where three nationalities with distinct languages and 
cultures are joined harmoniously under one government. "Ameri- 
can Civilization is to be conceived of as the unified resultant of the 
separate cultures existing side by side as distinct entities." 

"Thus 'American Civilization' may come to mean the perfection 
of the cooperative harmonies of 'European civilization,' the waste, 
the squalor, and the distress of Europe being eliminated — a multi- 
plicity in a unity, an orchestration of mankind. As in an orchestra 
every type of instrument has its specific timbre and tonality, founded 
in its substance and form; as every type has its appropriate theme 
and melody in the whole symphony, so in society each ethnic group 
is the natural instrument, its spirit and culture are its theme and 
melody, and the harmony and dissonances and discords of them all 
make the symphony of civilization, with this difference : a musical 
symphony is written before it is played; in the symphony of civiliza- 
tion the playing is the writing, so that there is nothing so fixed and 
inevitable about its progression as in music, so that within the limits 
set by nature they may vary at will, and the range and variety of the 
harmonies may become wider and richer and more beautiful." 

In this conception of cooperating but distinct cultures the pro- 
ponents believe themselves to be representing a line of thought which 
is in harmony with the progress of democracy. They point out the 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 81 

close connection between religious beliefs and cultural ideals, and 
argue that the modern formula cuius regio huius natio is as arbitrary 
and as oppressive as the eighteenth century cuius regio huius religio. 
They plead that freedom to develop one's own culture is as primary 
a right as is freedom to believe in the doctrines of one's own church. 
It must be remembered that these nationalists always interpret 
nationality in psychological, not political terms — in desire to promote 
literature, art and beliefs. They do, however, maintain that there 
is between birth and culture a definitely relevant relation and tend 
to look upon culture as national in its character. 

The 'Federation of Nationalities' theory has undoubtedly served a 
purpose in offering a striking challenge to the easy-going assumptions 
of the total assimilationists. It brings to the fore considerations 
which the first two theories have failed to reckon with. However, 
whatever may be the final conclusion with reference to the desirability 
of maintaining the identity of the ethnic group within the state, 
the grounds upon which such a conclusion is to rest must be other 
than what is implied in the scheme of thought underlying the 'Fed- 
eration of Nationalities' idea. The theory is based on the assumption 
of the ineradicable and central influence of race. That race in 
the sense of ethnic affiliation is the all important and predestinat- 
ing fact in the life of the individual, or that it ought to be if the 
individual is to fully realize himself, cannot be upheld either from 
a logical analysis of what the term 'race' can mean or from any 
examination of the facts at our disposal of the influence of race on the 
life of the individual. 

What lends the color of plausibility to such statements of the prime 
importance of race as is implied in the expression, "Selfhood is 
ancestrally determined" is a vagueness and equivocality in the mean- 
ing of the word 'race.' Sometimes it is used in the sense that the 
biologist or psychologist most often employs it, in the sense of actual 
heredity, i.e., the original nature of individuals as against acquired 
characteristics. In this sense the word is abstract and has no plural. 
At other times the word is used in the sense of the anthropologist 
denoting a group of human beings classified together on the basis of 
some physical resemblance in stature, head shape, eye color, etc. 



82 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

There is indeed an assumption that the general outward resemblance 
hints at some common origin; but it must be remembered that the 
classification is made on the basis of the physical resemblances; 
nothing is really known of the actual origin. In this sense the word 
is concrete and has a plural and in fact can only be thought of in 
connection with the possibility of differentiated groups.^ Now, 
saying that heredity in the sense of the original endowment of the 
nervous system is far more important than environment (in reference 
to some things and in some ways) is a different thing from saying 
that the ethnic group to which one belongs, according to some anthro- 
pologists, should decide absolutely for each individual what place he 
shall hold in society. 



^This error of double and equivocal usage is excellently illustrated in a recent work 
on the importance of the Nordic race for European civilization, and the calamity that 
awaits us because (as the author claims) it is passing away. (The Passing of the Great 
Race, Madison Grant). A special preface explains the importance of the book in that 
it is an interpretation of history in terms of 'race'. "Eittopean history has been written 
in terms of nationality and of language, but never before in terms of race; yet race has 
played a far larger part than either language or nationality in moulding the destinies 
of men; race implies heredity and heredity implies all the moral, social and intellectual 
characteristics and traits which are the springs of politics and government. Quite 
independently and imconsciously the author, never before a historian, has turned this 
historical sketch into the current of a great biological movement, which may be traced 
back to the teachings of Galton and Weismann, beginning in the last third of the nine- 
teenth century. This movement has compelled us to recognize the superior force and 
stability of heredity, as being more enduring and potent than environment." Evi- 
dently the writer of the preface used the word 'race' in the sense that a biologist or a 
psychologist would use it, in the sense of heredity, i.e. original nature of the individual 
as against acquired characteristics. The author of the work, however, throughout 
the body of the book carries on the discussion of the term 'race' in the sense that the 
anthropologist would use it. The author, holding for the most part consistently to the 
anthropological usage, tacitly assuming an inevitable relationship between the two 
meanings of the word 'race', nevertheless in one place patently commits the fallacy of 
the double meaning within the scope of a single paragraph. "This something which we 
call 'Genius' is not a matter of family, but of stock or strain, and is inherited precisely 
in the same manner as are the purely physical characters. It may be latent through 
several generations of obscurity and then flare up when the opportunity comes. Of 
this we may have many examples in America. This is what education does for a 
community; it permits in these rare cases fair play for development, but it is race, 
always race, that produces genius. An individual of inferior type or race may profit 
greatly by good environment. On the other hand a member of a superior Race in 
bad surroundings may and often does sink to an extremely low level." Where the word 
race has been put in italics (which are mine), it is used in the sense of heredity; in the 
last case, placed in bold faced type, the author by introducing the indefinite article a 
has easily slipped into the meaning of a group of men supposedly with the same origin. 
Throughout the book the author assumes that there are superior races and that to be a 
member of them is the very significant matter. Most of the arguments about race 
superiority have at bottom committed this fallacy. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 83 

Now the proposition that race is more important than environ- 
ment, or that it is important at all, would depend for its truth upon 
the sense in which the term 'race' is used. If race here means an 
ethnic group, it is in all likelihood false; if race means heredity it is 
with limitations true. All that biologists mean when they say that 
heredity is more important than environment is that seeing an 
eminent person we should ascribe that eminence to some gift of origi- 
nal nature rather than to some process of training or to circumstances 
alone, i.e., put another man through the same course of education 
and the same environment and he will not become eminent; on the 
other hand take an individual with good original endowment and put 
him anywhere and he will become a somebody in the minds and 
opinion of his fellows. Few would maintain that a man's vocation 
is determined wholly by original nature and even fewer perhaps that 
the language a man speaks and the church with which he is affiliated 
are determined by his original nature. The proposition does not 
mean that two individuals of the same heredity will not be vastly 
different, absolutely considered, whether they are born and develop 
in Germany or in the United States. It does not mean that a genius 
brought up among savages will in absolute achievement equal the 
average man in a highly civilized state. In this sense and with such 
limitations it is true that race (i.e., heredity, original endowment) 
is more important than environment. 

In the other sense, of a group with identical or closely related 
ancestry, the statement that race is all important in determining 
the status of the individual in all likelihood is false. Every serious 
study has demonstrated^ that variability within one race and over- 
lapping between races are so great that one can prophesy nothing with 
any degree of certainty about the original endowment of an individual 
from the one fact of his ethnic origin. There are differences, but the 
similarities are far in excess of the differences to such a degree that 
among European peoples the mass of each group is in original nature 

'For the relationship between race and culture, see Robert H. Lowie, Culture and 
Ethnology: Franz Boas, The Mind of Primitive Man; Gustav Spiller, in Sociological 
Review, "Science and Rtice Prejudice; Franz Boas, Changes in Bodily Form of Descend- 
ants of Immigrants; Gustav filler. The Interracial Congress; Edward Thorndike, 
Individual Differences, Vol. Ill in Educational Psychology. 



84 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

indistinguishable from the mass of any other group. While the 
influence of the near ancestry, i.e., the family, seems to be potent, 
the influence of the remote ancestry is practically negligible in 
determining the gifts of the individual. Thorndike, summing up 
the evidence on the influence of remote ancestry (race) in reference 
to education, expresses the relations as follows: "Calling the dif- 
ference between the original capacity of the lowest congenital idiot 
and that of the average modern European 100, I should expect the 
average deviation of one pure race from another in original capacity 
to be below 10 and above 1, and the difference between the central 
tendencies of the most gifted and the least gifted races to be below 50 
and above 10. I should consider 3 and 25 as reasonable guesses for 
the two differences. Even if the differences were far larger than these, 
the practical precept for education would remain unchanged. It is, of 
course, that selection by race of original natures to be educated is nowhere 
nearly as effective as selection of the superior individuals regardless of 
race. There is much overlapping and the differences in original 
nature within the same race are, except in extreme cases, many times 
as great as the differences between races as wholes."^ 

It is not difficult to understand why this great variability within 
each race and overlapping between races exist. If each human being 
had only one trait and each race was differentiated from every other 
race in reference to that one trait, then, granted that such was the 
case at the beginning of things and that no intermarriage has taken 
place since, every individual of one race would possess the trait in 
the form appropriate to his race. Every member of a race A would 
have trait A and every member of race B would have trait B, no 
member of race A could have trait B and no member of race B could 
have trait A; and granting further that a trait could exist only in 
one amount or one degree, there would be no divergences within the 
race group. The traits, however, which we have in mind are very 
numerous, the degrees in which they are present highly variable. 
Even if at the beginning of things there were pure races^ intermarriage 
has taken place among all races that now inhabit Eurasia and there are 

^Thorndike, Educational Psychology, Vol. Ill, Chap. X, p. 224 (italics mine). 
^It would of course be going far to assume that the various subdivisions of the white 
race had separate and distinct origins. 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 85 

no pure strains. Even such a comparatively pure race as the Jews 
are supposed to be^ is undoubtedly a highly mixed race. They inter- 
married in Biblical times and throughout the diaspora with proselytes 
to Judaism and thus the racial elements entering into any modern Jew 
are highly complex.^ Even in the case of the Jews, then, it would be 
very surprising to find a definitive line of demarcation between all 
Jews and all non-Jews. One would expect to find, as is certainly the 
case, no mutual exclusiveness in the original nature of Jew and non- 
Jew. 

It may be argued, however, that the important differences are those 
of emotional reaction and desire, and that the conclusions cited 
above are the results of experiments on other than these characteristics. 
Separate meastirements of simple mental traits, it may be urged, are 
not adequate for the determination of what the large important total 
reactions may be, and no adequate experiments have as yet been 
made in reference to these more complex functions. On the other 
hand, it should be noted that no experiments have proved the contrary, 
namely that the members of a race resemble each other very closely 
in some things in which they are very much differentiated from other 
races. Discounting for environmental influences, whatever evidence 
we have will insist on a great divergence within each race in reference 
to any point that one might measure, be it virtue or vice, riches or 
poverty, intelligence or stupidity; business ability, musical ability, 
manual skill; vocations, politics, pleasures. Whatever special 
tendencies there are among various ethnic groups can far more easily 
be traced to social pressure or environmental circumstances or to a 
slight racial difference. 

On the other hand, the contention here is not that racial distinctions 
do not exist at all or that being small they are not very important 
for the development of any group as a whole in comparison with 
another group as a whole. In all likelihood, racial differences have 
played their part working through environmental and historical forces 

^On good grounds because intermarriage is forbidden by religious laws and is 
contrary to the social opinion. In addition those who intermarry generally cease to 
maintain the Jewish tradition; those who are Jews are thus the selected non-inter- 
married Jews. 

^Arthur Ruppin, The Jews of To-day. 



/ 



86 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

to create distinctive cultures and to give some nations superiority 
over others. However, differences of habitat, of vocation, of political 
institutions, of the 'zeitgeist' and social atmosphere also have 
great influence in deciding the characters of men in a profound 
way. Tribal origin is at most only one of the many factors which 
combine to form the personality. It is the conception that ethnic 
differences are the basic matters in the life of each member of the ethnic 
group, that the ethnic differences are primary, ineradicable because 
natural, while all other differences, those of environment and acquired^ 
are secondary and changeable because artifacts, which the argument 
opposes. 

It must be recalled that the differences between one culture and 
another when both are on a high plane of development are after all 
differences in quality or degree. The distinction between Jewishness 
and Anglo-Saxonism is a difference comparable to the difference 
between Russian music and Italian music rather than to the differ- 
ence between music and no music. Let us imagine that a band of 
children, the offspring of gifted musicians are transported to a 
coimtry in which no music exists; their musical souls would in all 
likelihood remain unsatisfied until they had created some music to 
live by. Had the band been transported from Russia to Italy, rich 
in musical tradition, the children would have been none the wiser, 
and would have had full latitude for self-expression. Indeed some 
rare genius of the Russian soul, it is conceivable, if he had happened 
to be among them, would have broken the chains of the foreign 
tradition and have revealed his primordial origin. The average, 
however, would have taken the forms and spirit of the new nationality. 
So, too, the average Jew, brought up in an Anglo-Saxon environment, 
would have ample opportunity for self-expression, no matter what 
one assumes the Jewish genius to be, money-making, abstract religion, 
mysticism, or a passion for social justice. 

But he would not have reached his full self-realization, one might 
urge. Such an objection, however, takes for granted two matters 
which are open to question. In the first place, such a conception 
takes for granted that every Jew is a Jew, i.e., that every person 
bom in a Jewish family has the peculiar original endowment which 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 87 

makes Jewishness the only ultimate and complete satisfier. By origi- 
nal nature probably most Jews can fit into one culture as well as 
into another culture just as most men are not born to any vocation 
but fit equally poorly or equally well into a number. There are 
some men who are born to be musicians, or artists, or lawyers, or 
statesmen; but these are the exceptions, the men above the average. 
Most men have no special vocation; perhaps nearly all men can adjust 
themselves equally well within a certain type of work. The majority 
are mediocrities and nondescripts. So, too, most Jews are mediocri- 
ties and nondescripts in reference to their Jewishness. They can turn 
to any environment within the range of European civilization with 
equal facility. In fact their facility to adapt themselves is as pro- 
verbial as their ethnic tenacity. Those whose Jewish spirit is like a 
"fire burning within their bones" are few and far between. 

In the second place, granting that there is a Jewish 'genius' and 
that most Jews possess at least a spark of it, is it necessary to assume 
that the present Jewish religion and culture, the evolved institutions 
of the Jewish spirit, comprise the true Jewishness? There are and 
have been many kinds of Judaisms. Since all historical expressions 
of a people's soul are of necessity only compromises with certain 
environmental circumstances and historical happenings and the true 
-embodiment is continually developing and growing, whatever 
Jewishness we have to-day is inevitably imperfect. May not, there- 
fore, another culture, say Americanism, though itself no complete 
expression of the tendencies which have created Jewish life, be a 
better embodiment than any of the particular forms which the force 
of historical circumstances has permitted to the Jewish genius? 
Certainly, some aspects of American life many would agree are more 
in accord with the spirit of the Hebrew Prophets than some aspects 
of traditional Judaism. 

Before a doctrine of ethnic predestination can become tenable, 
it is necessary to hold that each member of the ethnic group possesses 
the ethnic genius, so that no other form of culture can bring him 
salvation, and, secondly, that the historical expression of the ethnic 
culture is more in accord with the ethnic soul than any other culture 
to which the individual may attach himself. The only way the former 



88 THEORIES OP AMERICANIZATION 

could be proved would be by permitting the member of the ethnic 
group to come into contact with more than one type of culture and 
to learn to which he tends to gravitate. The latter can only be 
demonstrated by watching the development of the ethnic group 
under conditions which guarantee social autonomy. Of the two, the 
writer beheves the first to be relatively untrue and the second rela- 
tively true. These two large social experiments will be tried out 
in the coming generations; the second in Palestine if the Jews are 
restored as a self-governing people; the first in the diaspora, and 
especially in America, as will be the endeavor to show in the discus- 
sion of the 'Community' theory of adjustment presented in the next 
chapter. The conclusion that race in the sense of ethnic aflSliation 
is no inevitable determinant of individual character would prevent 
us from fixing conditions in this country in such a way that the ethnos 
should have a predominating influence. 

Perhaps the foregoing long argument is unnecessary to show that 
the epigram, "We cannot change our grandfathers," is but a sophism. 
A moment's reflection would show that we can "change our grand- 
fathers," and in two specific ways. In the first place, when a man 
forgets who his grandfathers were and neglects their traditions, i.e., 
fails to retain the characteristics which marked his grandfathers and 
adopts other models, to all intents and purposes he "changes his 
grandfather." Our grandfathers are psychological as well as physi- 
cal. What we are depends not only upon our original nature but also 
upon its interaction with the environment. To think of the nature 
of an individual as something independent of his environment is to 
be guilty of an impossible dualism. Since beliefs and traditions and 
manner of social life are part of the environment, any change in these 
from the standards of our grandfathers is in reality a "change" of 
our grandfathers. In the second place (since we are considering 
groups) grandfathers can be changed through intermarriage. Any 
individual who marries outside of his group is thereby changing the 
ancestry of his children. To what degree intermarriage is going on 
is a matter that needs to be ascertained through study; but that it is a 
possibility is open to no question.^ 

*Dr. Arthur Ruppin statistically proves the increase of intermarriage in Europe 
with the removal of social-economic deterrents. Julius Drachsler has showa 



THEORIES or ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 89 

The contention of ethnic stabiUty does not seem to be borne out 
either by the theoretical discussion or by the facts in so far as they 
have been ascertained. Wherever one ethnic group of the white 
race tends to remain separated from another, cultural, political and 
religious factors are the impediments, not racial characteristics. 
The objection to a scheme of organization like the 'Federation of 
Nationalities' theory rests, however, not only on the conclusion that 
its hypothesis of racial predestination is false, but also on the groimd 
that such a scheme of organization would fail to satisfy in full measure 
our democratic criteria. 

To regard every individual of an ethnic group as having primarily 
the characteristic nature of that group, as if affiliation with it invested 
him with a particular kind of ethnicity which then determined his 
nature, is contrary to the doctrine that each individual structure is 
primary. To assume that he is what his group is, and that solely 
or even primarily, is to apply to him something in the nature of a 
transcendental standard. If, indeed, after permitting him freedom of 
action, the individual shows tendencies that align him with his ethnic 
group, he can be rightly conceived of as sharing in its nature. To 
take for granted that he does so share the character of the ethnic 
group and to proceed to mould his life from that point of view solely 
is to apply to him an external standard. Undoubtedly an individual 
may be influenced by the character of his remote ancestry . But before 
governmental organization can be permitted to make ethnic origin 
the central consideration, there must be overwhelming proof of its 
importance. Otherwise such a scheme of government cannot help 
but artifically make race a greater factor than it deserves to be, 
leading to a repression of the individual, a lessening of the possible 
opportunities of a variety of type of living and an insufficient realiza- 
tion of his responsibilities to the larger group of which he is a part. 

Now, undoubtedly, a member of a foreign ethnic group within 
the United States has interests which cross the boundaries of his 



that the rate of intennarriage is very great for all groups in New York City except 
in the case of the Jews, that all the foreign ethnic groups are breaking down with the 
exception of the Jews. Even in the case of the Jews intermarriage is on the increase 
in the second generation. Both are at one in the conclusion that social and economic 
forces and acquired habits are between the white groups the only barriers to intermar- 
riage. The race element is ineffective. 



90 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

particular group, and which he holds in common with members of 
other ethnic group. In his economic activity, in his politics, and 
even in his general outlook on life, he has relationships with a wider 
range of persons than those which comprise his own group. He is 
as likely as not to be at variance in some of these matters with other 
members of his own ethnic group. To make the ethnic group the 
main basis of organization within the larger unit would in a sense 
make all of these other factors subservient to the ethnic consideration. 
For with autonomy of the ethnic group would have to go partial 
segregation and power over the school system. The free play of 
divergent currents, which the community of interests in America 
should demand, would be interfered with. Such an organization, 
a federation of ethnic groups, would lead to sectionalism, a condition 
in which a group decides issues affecting also other groups mainly 
from its narrower group outlook. Here sectionalism would be ethnic. 
The ethnic relationship would limit the view, as does the territorial 
alignment in local sectionalism. 

Another way of saying this would be that ethnic automony would 
lead to indoctrination. A man's ethnic groupings would determine, 
fix, also his other relationships to the other members of the State. 
One factor in a man's life must certainly influence, but should not deter- 
mine the other factors. Democracy is essentially opposed to deter- 
minism, either by physical force or by any other extrinsic or not fully 
related fact of life. Democracy does not oppose (as indeed it cannot) 
the influence of heredity, or church, or economic class; but it asserts 
that these must not have undue influence made possible by artificial 
organization of society. Since life is wider than any oneof thesefactors, 
the rights of the individual in society must not be altogether deter- 
mined by any one of these. So, too, when we would segregate our 
children in the schools on the basis of nationality, we would tend to 
make one factor in the complex situation determine all other relation- 
ships to their fellow American citizens. In effect, the possible oppor- 
tunities of coming in contact with divergent currents would be artifi- 
cially limited. 

Furthermore, wherever unities of an economic and political nature 
do not lead also to cultural unities, to participation in a common 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 91 

spiritual life which rises out of the community of natural conditions, 
the most significant thing has been irretrievably lost. In the real 
human sense, all common economic and political activities are signifi- 
cant only in so far as they lead to a finer insight into, and finer appre- 
ciation of, life. To earn one's livelihood here and to vote here may 
be fair rewards for American citizenship. The great opportunity 
will be missed, however, of learning the significance of human life 
as it reveals itself in the activities and in the thought of a great 
country, rich in natural resources, heterogeneous in its racial composi- 
tion, tolerant and open-minded toward life. 

But is it not possible, one may protest, to conceive of the new 
conditions leading to growth by modifying the traditional ethnic 
culture.? Indeed, this is so; but such a conception assumes the past 
of the race to be the Law, and the new experience mainly its illustra- 
tion and sometimes its amendment. The democratic idea of culture 
demands that the significances spring out of the physical and practical 
life of the day, and that the function of history is secondary. Life 
is the author, history the interpreter, not vice versa. The notion of 
the hegemony of the ethnic group tends too much to bend the present 
life to a standard created by the past. 

The simplest and therefore most telling objection to this type of 
governmental organization for the United States is the recognition 
that it is a notion imported from foreign conditions without realizing 
that the very considerations which make it valid there are totally 
different in this country. The analogy of a Federation of Ethnic 
Groups within one state is directly inspired by the situation in Switzer- 
land, the British Empire and the old Austria, In all of these as in 
the United States there is a heterogeneity of ethnic types, with one 
set of essential differences. In these other countries each ethnic 
group is fairly well defined and attached to -particular localities. 
The land was in all cases possessed by the ethnic group before the 
government came into existence. Together with this common ancient 
possession of the soil goes a community of language, social life and 
nearly always a common religion. The language of general social 
intercourse and the language of the street are the folk tongue. The 
function of the Federal government which has come after the distinct 



92 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

existence of these groups promotes intercommunication and common 
action between groups hitherto separated and sometimes at variance with 
each other. 

In America conditions are quite different. The phenomenon of 
attachment of the various ethnic groups to certain definite localities 
from ancient times is altogether missing. Even where there is 
the gathering of groups in certain spots, we must remember the 
important distinctions. In the first place, it is not tenure of land 
that holds the group together, but certain psycho-social forces which 
in their nature of acquired characteristics tend to disappear with 
intercommunication. In the second place, one ethnic group will 
be found to have colonies in many places; it is not settled in one 
centre. The populations tend to be rather mobile and move from 
place to place. Even in the specifically foreign quarters the second 
generation tends to use English and not the ethnic tongue as the 
medium of expression. The children in the streets play in English. 
In order to have a Federation of Nationalities in America it would 
be necessary to separate the various nationalities and then organize 
them on the basis of the ethnos. Such a procedure would, in reference 
to the conditions in the United States, illustrate a tendency directly 
in opposition to that involved in federalization in the case of the 
European countries named. It would tend to impede impenetrability 
rather than to further it. In reference to the position already 
attained such a movement would be a step backward and not for- 
ward in the process of democratization. The analogy to European 
federations does not hold in reference to the central and relevant 
consideration. The conditions in America have no exact analogy 
and the solution cannot, therefore, be merely a copy of a ready made 
pattern. The task is to create an adequate mode of adjustment which 
will be harmonious with the novel conditions of thought and life pre- 
sented here. 

The 'Federation of Nationalities' theory has been treated at perhaps 
greater length than its practical import merits. Even among the 
Jews who are most keen in their desire to maintain the group identity 
this theory, especially in the literal form presented here, would find 
comparatively few advocates. Its strength lies rather in its negative 



THEORIES OF ETHNIC ADJUSTMENT 93 

criticism of the prevailing theories of assimilation than in its p>ositive 
suggestion. Its proponents have given it undue force through excel- 
lent theoretical presentation; but it must be regarded as a doctrinaire 
solution, not as a practical plan. 

Both the 'Americanization' and the 'Federation of Nationalities' 
theories assume too much. They fix to an unnecessary degree the 
end for which the individual nature exists. The 'Americanization' 
theory regards the life of the country to be fairly well determined 
and insists that the individual must bring himself within the limits 
of the evolved and dominant type. What the individual should be is 
predetermined altogether by the conditions of the geographical 
present. The 'Federation of Nationalities' theory would predispose, 
but in the opposite direction; the individual's race predetermines 
his end. Since the term 'race' here really signifies the traditions of his 
ethnos, it in the end amounts to giving the past of the tribe a vested 
right to determine the future of the individual. In both cases the 
cloth is to be cut in measure with some preconceived pattern. 
The theory to be oflFered as the constructive suggestion, while admit- 
ting the validity of both these forces, would endeavor to avoid 
exclusive control by either. To permit the greatest number of possi- 
bilities for the individual, to give an opportunity to all of these 
factors to fimction, to keep the future as flexible as is compatible with 
the integrity and stability of the total society will be the underlying 
purpose of the 'Community' theory of adjustment. 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 



We perceive a community great in numbers, mighty in power, enjoying 
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; true life, not mere breathing 
space; full liberty, not mere elbow room; real happiness, not that of 
pasture beasts; actively participating in the civic, social and economic 
progress of the country, fully sharing and increasing its spiritual posses- 
sions and acquisitions, doubling its joys, halving its sorrows; yet deeply 
rooted in the soil of Judaism, clinging to its past, working for its future, 
true to its traditions, faithful to its aspirations, one in sentiment with 
their brethren wherever they are, attached to the land of their fathers as the 
cradle and resting place of the Jewish spirit; men with straight backs 
and raised heads, unth big hearts and strong minds, with no conviction 
crippled, with no emotion stifled, with souls harmoniously developed^ 
self-centered and self-reliant; receiving and resisting, not yielding like 
v>ax to every impress from the outside, but blending the best they possess 
with the best they encounter; not a horde of individuals, but a set of 
individualities, adding a new note to the richness of American life,leading 
a new current into the stream of American civilization; not a formless 
crowd of taxpayers and voters, but a sharply marked community, distinct 
and distinguished, trusted for its loyalty, respected for its dignity, 
esteemed for its traditions, valued for its aspirations, a community such 
as the Prophet of the Exile saw in his vision: "And marked will be 
their seed among the nations, and their off-spring among the peoples. 
Everyone that will see them unll point to them as a community blessed by 

the Lord." 

— Israel Fbiedlaender 



CHAPTER III 

THE COMMUNITY THEORY 

The 'Community' theory* which is proposed as the constructive 
suggestion is in reality the formulation of a process already shaping 
itself among some of our immigrant groups as a result of the con- 
fluence of the ethnic will to live with the conditions of American life. 
To the writer the suggestion has come from the experience of the 
Jewish group; and, although there are many indications of this 
scheme of organization among other immigrant nationalities, the Jews 
have undoubtedly gone fm-thest in its development. In fact, it may 
be regarded as the response of the Jewish group to the problem of 
adjustment. While many among the Jews would differ with our 
proposal or with some of its features, the tendency of Jewish institu- 
tional development would indicate that the 'Community' theory is 
the acceptable mode of adjustment for the Jewish group as an ethnic 
entity. Confidence in the validity of this plan should be the greater 
because it represents the resultant of many intricate social forces 
working slowly upon each other under democratic conditions. It 
will be apt to escape the basic unsoundness of an a 'priori plan built 
upon the interest of certain classes, the undiscerning emotionalism 
misunderstood as patriotism or the romantic imagination of sociolog- 
ical litterateurs. The formulation presented belqw comes after the 
process and is an attempt to build a consistent theory^ out of disso- 
ciated methods to the end that the further course of adjustment may 
be guided more directly in line with the ideal. Drawn from Jewish 
life, it will undoubtedly apply most closely to Jewish life. Neverthe- 
less, it is hoped that the Jewish experience may form the basis of a 

^See Horace J. Bridges, On becoming an American; Julius Drachsler, Democracy and 
Assimilation. Such an attitude is perhaps also implied in "Nationalizing Education" 
by John Dewey (in N. E. A. Addresses and Proceedings, 1916); and Newer Ideals of 
Peace, by Jane Addams. The underlying philosophy of Jewish life upon which this 
theory is based has been propounded by Ahad Ha' Am; though he does not develop it 
with special reference to the theory of adjustment in the lands of the Diaspora. That 
has been done with special reference to America by his disciple and exponent, the late 
Professor Israel Friedlaender. See Past and Present, A Collection of Jewish Essays, 
especiaUy Chaps. XV. XVI, XVII. XVIII, XIX, XXVI. 

97 



98 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

theory of adjustment which will be applicable to all groups which 
desire to maintain their ethnic identity in the conditions of democratic 
life in America. 

Like the 'Federation of Nationalities' theory, our position insists on 
the value of the ethnic group as a permanent asset in American life. 
The 'Community' theory differs from the 'Americanization' and 'Melt- 
ing Pot' theories in that it refuses to set up as an ideal such a fusion as 
will lead to the obliteration of all ethnic distinctions. Furthermore, 
it regards a rich social life as necessary for the development and 
expression of the type of culture represented by the foreign ethnic 
group. There is, however, a fundamental difference in what is 
conceived to be the ultimate sanction for maintaining the identity 
of the foreign ethnic gToup. In the 'Federation of Nationalities' 
theory the assumed identity of race is pivotal; the argument is made 
to rest primarily upon the proposition that "we cannot change our 
grandfathers." The 'Community' theory, on the other hand, would 
make the history of the ethnic group its aesthetic, cultural and relig- 
ious inheritance, its national self-consciousness the basic factor. 
This change of emphasis from race to culture brings with it a whole 
series of implications rising from the fact that culture is psychical, 
must be acquired through some educational process, and is not in- 
herited in the natural event of being born. The 'Community' theory 
is to be understood as an analysis of what is implied for the theory of 
adjustment by considering culture as central in the life of the ethnos. 
Community of culture possible of demonstration becomes the ground 
for perpetuation of the group, rather than an identity of race, ques- 
tionable in fact and dubious in significance. 

The distinction between race and acquired characteristics shows 
itself in a greatly overemphasized form in the logomachy which has 
for many years been carried on between the extremists of the Reform 
Movement and the Modernist Radical-Nationalists. The Reform 
position maintains that "the Jews are a faith, not a race." Perhaps 
most Jews would subscribe to such a pronouncement if the term 
"faith" were made broad enough and interpreted to mean a kind of 
life. The followers of Reform, however, anxious to become as near 
as possible to the nations of the West, adopted Western customs and 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 99 

modes of life wholeheartedly and made of Jewishness a formal creed 
to which one might maintain a sort of verbal adherence without 
changing in any important respect the content of life or thought. 
The movement toward divesting Jewishness of all social background 
and leaving it a bare, attenuated doctrine finds its extreme logical 
development in the conception that Israel has been dispersed amongst 
the nations providentially, for the purpose of teaching "God is One." 
The crystallization of Jewishness into a phrase permitted the growth 
of the illusion that one could live any type of life and remain a Jew 
by giving a lip allegiance to words. Orthodoxy,^ as it develops in 
Western countries among German Jews and Jews who have lived in 
America for some length of time, shows a similar tendency toward 
formalization. But instead of becoming crystallized into abstract 
ideas, orthodoxy has been codified into religious ceremonies whose 
meaning and relation to life are little understood. Thus the 'orthodox' 
Jew can become assimilated to Western modes of life quite as much as 
the Reform Jew while he saves his soul by the mechanical performance 
of the Jewish ritual. Since actions and customs are more noticeable 
than phrases kept in the mind, differences of ceremonial, as for 
instance the keeping of the Dietary Laws, often impress themselves 
more readily on the non-Jewish mind. These external peculiarities, 
however, only too frequently are not accompanied by any distinct 
cultural or spiritual life. They are merely social conventions. 
There is, however, an element of fundamental truth in the tendency to 
associate Jewishness with 'Religion,' and that is to insist that Jewish 
life must have a spiritual justification. The error in both Reform 
and Orthodoxy seems to be that the conception of 'spiritual' is formal, 
sentimental, and abstracted from social life. 

The modernist Radical-Nationalists, impatient with codified 
formulations of the spirit and aspirations of a people, especially since 
these formulations had been embodied in 'religious' practices and 
terminologies on account of historical circumstance, were seeking for 
something underneath and below these crystallizations of custom 
which had become encrusted on the Jewish organism, for something 

^Orthodoxy as a creed is meant ; not the social life of the Russian ghetto, which is 
often called 'orthodox' Judaism. 



100 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

motivating and spontaneous, some life force which could be con- 
ceived as manifesting itself throughout history in a variety of embodi- 
ments. They did not blindly worship the Western World. They 
had confidence that the Kingdom of Heaven was within them too. 
Looking for some inherent Protean potentiality rather than for com- 
pleted excellence, and within themselves rather than in the environ- 
ment, they fell back on the term 'race.' Such a conception of identity 
in race leaves room for progress and new embodiments, though it 
tends to minimize the importance of history and what has already 
been acquired. 

Jewish tradition and with it the Jewish masses speak in terms of 
neither 'race' nor 'religion.'^ Both of these terms are imported from 
the Western world and are foreign to the Jewish spirit as terms 
description of Jewishness. The central idea in Jewish life is Torah. 
In legend and in literature, it is for the sake of the Torah that Israel 
was called into being; it is for the sake of the Torah that Israel has 
been spared annihilation. Torah is a word of many connotations, 
ranging from the usual designation of the Pentateuch to the whole 
spiritual life.^ It was the Torah that was revealed from Sinai, It 
was for the sake of the Torah that Israel entered the Promised Land. 
It was because Israel sinned against the Torah that he was exiled. 
It was for teaching the Torah that Akibah was flayed alive by the 
Romans. It was the Torah that was burned during the persecution 
in the mediaeval dark ages. It was for the Torah that the youth of 
the Russian Jewish ghetto gave up all worldly interests in a single- 
hearted devotion to learning. It is the Torah ultimately that is to go 
forth from Zion, and bring about Peace and the Messianic Age for 
the nations of the earth. Torah is the basis and the goal of Jewish 
life. Interpret it as narrowly or as broadly as you please, the central 
idea is Torah. It is Jewishness, the spiritual life, and Godliness, 
ton m Nin y\2 xcnipl xn^niw htn^. (The Holy One, Blessed be 
He, the Torah and Israel are one.) 

In the writings of the Cultural Zionists, devoted to the renascence 
of Hebraic life, this traditional emphasis upon Torah has been made 

'Israel Friedlaender, Past and Present, essay on "Peace and Religion." 

^Solomon Schechter, Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology, Chaps. VIII, IX, X, XI. 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 101 

the central thought. The idea of Torah has been broadened to in- 
clude cultural and aesthetic values as well as those which popular 
usage identifies as 'religious.' The fundamental notion, however, 
that the aspiration of Jewish life is spiritual remains the underlying 
conception in this philosophy. The term 'history' is sometimes 
used in the profound sense of "Philosophy teaching by example" as 
the interpretation of events through the experience of the human race 
with reference to human aspirations.^ Torah, we may say, is History 
in this broad sense, as it manifests itself in the life experiences of the 
Jewish people : Culture as it expresses itself in the rich inheritance of 
the Jewish people; Philosophy and Religion as they become embodied 
in the social and spiritual ideals of the Jewish People. What brings 
Jews together is the significance and power of Torah, i.e., Jewish His- 
tory, using the term in its richest sense. 

This conception which identifies the Jewish people with its cultural 
and spiritual aspirations comes very close to the view that nationality 
is essentially a psychological force, a view held by many of the 
protagonists of 'national' autonomy for the smaller nations of Europe. 
When the Serb representative at the Hungarian Diet of 1848 was 
asked, "What is a Nation?" he replied, "A race which possesses its own 
language, customs, culture and enough self-consciousness to preserve 
them." This definition of nationality in cultural terms gives the clue 
to the solution of our problem of harmonizing two nationalities 
dwelling side by side. The essential distinction between physical and 
spiritual goods lies in mutual exclusiveness of the former and the 
permeability of the latter. Two individuals, however close their 
proximity, cannot enjoy the possession of the same physical good. A 
man cannot eat an apple and give his friend the apple. If they desire 
to share, each must give up a part. Two men cannot have possession, 
in the strict sense, of one piece of land; both of them cannot build a 
house on the same spot. Spiritual goods, however, have an opposite 
character. Many people can listen to one musical composition, 
admire one picture, read one book. Indeed, such sharing normally 
enhances for each the enjoyment which each derives from the use 
of the good in question. Thus a group which has as a common pur- 

'Woodbridge, The Purpose of History, page 23. 



102 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

pose the acquisition of economic goods, may be in great danger of 
coming into conflict with neighboring groups of like mind. If, how- 
ever, the group purpose is expressed in terms of spiritual aspiration 
(unless, indeed, it believes that it is necessary to impose its own 
culture upon other groups by force) there is no innate necessity of 
conflict in the ordinary physical sense; rather mutual cooperation 
and exchange would be the logical outcome. The spirit ualization of 
the purpose of nationality is the most important factor in the adjust- 
ment potentiality of groups to one another. It points to a possibility 
for the preservation of individuality by other means than segregation, 
and reveals a way of retaining loyalty both to the cultural life of the 
ethnic group and to the life of the total group in all its aspects. 
Cultural divergences are not incompatible with allegiance to a com- 
mon culture. Two cultures have possibilities of harmonization which 
two political or economic independences would never have. 

Accordingly, the 'Community' theory of adjustment makes culture 
the raison d'etre of the preservation of the life of the group. The 
SchooP becomes the central agency around which the ethnic group 
builds its life. In accordance with our theory, the Jews are con- 
ceived of as living in no one isolated locality but scattered throughout 
the country and living amongst other nationalities. Together with 
other nationalities, they engage in commerce, in political and social 
life; they take advantage of all opportunities for educational and 
cultural development offered by the state, they fulfill whatever 
responsibilities citizenship implies even as understood by those who 
have no other loyalty than to the American ethnos, and they contrib- 
ute in whatever way they can to the development of America, in all 
phases, economic, political and cultural. Over and above this 
participation in the common life of the countrj'^, wherever Jews live 
in sufficient numbers to make communal life possible, the Jews are 
conceived of having their own communal life organized with a view 
to the preservation of that which is essential in the life of the Jewish 
people — the Tor ah. 



^The word School is used throughout to signify an educational agency much broader 
than the classroom (see Chap. VI). 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 103 

Consistent with this conception the miD nio?/! (Tahnud Torah), as 
the Communal Jewish School is called,^ becomes the central agency of 
the community, the institution around which it builds the social life 
and by means of which it transmits the significant culture of the ethnic 
group. Working hand in hand with the public schools the Talmud 
Torah provides that education which the ethnic community alone is 
capable of transmitting. It selects from the inheritance of the group 
those things which are of abiding worth. The loyalty which the 
school demands is not to the past for the sake of the past nor to charac- 
teristic customs and ceremonies when these are trivial, but to what is 
sublime, significant and beautiful in the history of the ethnos. The 
philological meaning of Torah, which is "Instruction," enforces the 
idea and gives the key to the method as well as the aim of the pres- 
ervation of Jewish life. Torah, Jewishness, is not attained through 
revelation or maintained through racial persistence; it is essentially 
study and must be acquired by means of the educational process. 

The function of the complementary schools, as is also the function of 
the communal organization of which the schools are the agency, is to 
transmit the culture of the ethnic group and thus to enrich the life of 
the individual Jew and through him that of the total group. If these 
schools have something to contribute to the citizen that will induce 
him to remain in loyal adherence to his ethnic community, his alle- 
giance and the perpetuation of the community are justified. The 
ethnic gToup cannot demand the loyalty of those to whom the cultural 
life of the ethnos offers no inspiration, whether these have not the 
emotional and aesthetic faculties of appreciation or whether they 
regard the ethnic tradition as being too separatist. Those foreign 
groups which have no cultural heritage cannot remain segregated on 
account of some assumed racial identity. Our theory requires neither 
proof nor assumption that a group has an identity of race which is 
significant or a culture which is particularly excellent. It endeavors 
to provide conditions which will permit these factors to play — ^to 
determine whether they really do exist and are important — without at 
the same time minimizing the duties and possibilities which rise out of 

^See A. M. Dushkin, Jewish Education in New York City, p. 68. The words n^O/»n 
miJl mean "Study of the Torah." 



104 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

living in America. By making the educational agency central and 
the fundamental means of perpetuating the group, we have chosen the 
instrument which is directly relevant to what we wish to preserve, 
namely, the cultural life of the ethnic group. 

The attempt to promote Jewish identity by local segregation and 
autonomous government, as is implied in the 'Federation of Nationali- 
ties' theory, would introduce a force making for separation which 
would gather its strength from other sources than the value and the 
appeal of the ethnic culture. Such organization would load the dice, 
so to speak, and bring to the support of the ethnic solidarity an aid in 
reality extrinsic to the nature of that which is considered valuable. 
It is necessary to be careful in pressing this point to avoid a dualistic 
position, for. undoubtedly, education cannot be given apart from some 
type of institution which involves the living together of men, com- 
munity organization and some governmental guarantee that this 
free association will not be disturbed. But it must be clearly borne 
in mind that whatever segregated communal power exists must be 
directly derived from the necessity of the educational process itself, 
sanctioned in so far as it can preserve what seems worth while in 
Jewish life, not from the mere fact of living together, nor from the 
assumption of a common heredity. The sanction for Jewish organiza- 
tion must rest on its culture. 

On the other hand, culture must have support in social life and 
adequate expression in communal institutions. The religious idea 
with the synagogue, conceived as a place of worship primarily, as the 
central communal agency offers too narrow a concept to include the 
full range of Jewish spiritual life. In the recent tendency to define 
religion in broad terms, making it practically synonymous with the 
spiritual and social aspiration, we have an attempt to regain for 
religion that wide province of control which it has lost through the 
transition from a theological to a scientific and political stage of social 
organization. Nevertheless, there is an element of plausibility in this 
reinterpretation, for religion when it becomes elevated and ideal 
attaches itself to the profound, the eternal, the universal. The error 
comes when this idealistic definition of the ultimate aspiration of 
religion is identified with the historical religions which have found 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 105 

expression in the temples, churches and synagogues, and these are 
presented as the central agencies for the development of social and 
spiritual life. But, obviously, the synagogue (or church) is only one 
agency with a limited sphere of influence. The synagogue even in 
religious ages included secular elements; it was the House of Study 
and the House of Meeting as well as the House of Prayer. In modern 
times, with the shift of emphasis to secularism, the Jewish conception, 
always tinged with anti-clericalism, must tend to emphasize the realis- 
tic interests of social life rather than the sentimental outlook which 
centers about prayer. The culture of the Jewish people, including as 
it does a language, a literature, and a profoundly spiritual social out- 
look, cannot be confined within the walls of the synagogue, where the 
erstwhile living thought is embalmed in liturgy, aspiration petrified 
into prayer, and social life fossilized in ceremonies. Not the particular 
form, but the vital longing for spiritual life is primary in Jewish life, 
and this finds embodiment in every age in that phase which for the 
time is most significant for social life. Jewish life, deeply spiritual, 
can be conceived of as cultm*al and political as well as religious and 
ecclesiastic. Only the combined force of formalized traditionalism, 
unwittingly abetting the anti-Jewish environment driving to dena- 
tionalization, can reduce the richness of the Jewish cultural heritage 
to the attenuated doctrines, superstitious sentimentalisms and cere- 
monious practices which remain the content of 'religion' for the many. 
Philanthropy can even less be considered as an adequate binding 
force between Jews, even though it will long continue to be an out- 
standing element in Jewish communal life. Charity is a public not a 
private function. When a man is ill or stricken with poverty it 
matters little whether he is a Jew or a Bohemian; the efficiency of the 
whole community is lowered and the public health endangered. So, 
too, the problem of recreation facilities, social centers, etc., is a public 
not a private function. There is no essential reason why the cir- 
cumcized and the uncircumcized should not exercise together; the 
same rules of hygiene apply to all. The coming together of Jews 
merely because of their consciousness of kin is the most reprehensible 
form of clannishness. For it is not justified by spiritual products 
which should result from coming together. It is a strange paradox 



106 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

that those Jews who proclaim, "Americanization" most loudly and 
who are generally deemed assimilationists should be the very ones 
to promote the sectarian recreational settlement while often decrying 
the promotion of Jewish teaching and Jewish culture! Until the 
State realizes to the full extent the importance of providing for the 
abnormal and learns to understand the relation of ills and their cure to 
the social psychology of various peoples there is undoubtedly room, 
even absolute necessity, for private philanthropy along sectarian and 
ethnic lines. The Jewish leaders in New York City who have built up 
an excellent system of eleemosynary institutions have, to be sure, 
rendered invaluable serAdce both to the Jews and to the community 
at large. Undoubtedly in the beginnings of communal endeavor the 
abnormal aspects had to receive first attention. But in the ultimate 
sense these are not permanent or essential Jewish tasks. Certainly, 
they are not the only Jewish tasks. 

In so far as the ethnic group is organized for political purposes and 
through political means, its activity is a menace. In so far as it is 
organized as a philanthropic agency, it is performing a valuable 
function although one not essentially its own, but rather that of the 
state. But in so far as it exists to perpetuate the spiritual and cul- 
tural heritage of a community it is performing a task relevant to what 
sanctions the existence of such a community, the possibility of enrich- 
ing the life of the nation by its own cultural inheritance. 

The 'Community' theory, then, would seem to make full provision 
for the requirements of American life, while aiming to contribute to 
America the finer elements in the ethnic tradition. On the other 
hand, the question may be raised whether such a method of adjust- 
ment will be adequate for preserving the foreign ethnic group from 
extinction. Constantly subject to the play of forces from without, is 
there any hope that the ethnic group will be able to maintain its 
identity and to develop its culture in new and creative ways? In 
accordance with the 'Community' theory it is the clear consciousness 
of the worth of the ethnic heritage, implying the power of compre- 
hension and appreciation in great degrees, upon which the perpetua- 
tion of the ethnos must rest in a democratic land. Are the many, 
usually unreasoning, fashioning their lives through force of instinct. 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 107 

personal habit and social pressure, capable of being held and directed 
by a spiritual heritage, which must be transmitted in great part 
through books and language; especially when this heritage is not 
supported by economic, political and social interests? 

The danger of disintegration is undoubtedly real, especially if there 
is more than a formal religious adherence in mind. To some thinkers^ 
the fate of the Jews in democratic countries, wherever they form a 
minority of the population (and they do so practically everywhere) is 
inevitable extinction. The analysis presented here, suggesting a way, 
consistent with democratic notions, of maintaining the identity of a 
cultural nationality even when it is a minority, is presented not as the 
necessary outcome of a laissez-faire policy, but as a possibility of 
accomplishment through conscious and intelligent endeavor. Only 
when the minority cultural community is self-conscious of its purpose 
and deliberate in its method can there be hope that the school will be 
effective in counteracting the forces of disintegration. 

In estimating the possibility of maintaining the ethnic identity, two 
factors of extreme importance must be borne in mind, the rate of 
intermarriage and the influence of a 'home' country where the culture 
of the ethnic group is predominant. The integrity of the family will 
determine the physical stability of the group; the 'home' country will 
serve as a reservoir from which to draw forces of renewal. The 
validity of the 'Community' theory will depend in great measure 
upon its implications in regard to both these factors. 

The Family 

From the point of view of the raison d'etre of the preservation of the 
ethnic community, the school becomes the central institution because 
it reproduces that which is essential to the group as a community — its 
cultural life. From the point of view of physical perpetuation, 
which is the condition of any other kind of life, the family is basic. 
Intermarriage, with rare exception, leads to a total obliteration of the 
culture of the ethnic minority. Unless the family preserves the ethnic 
affiliation, the child will never have the opportunity of coming under 

^Arthur Ruppin, The Jews of Today. J. WeZhauseiL, The History of Israel and 
Judah. 



108 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

the influences of school and synagogue. The integrity of the Jewish 
family, therefore, becomes sine qua non to any preservation of Jewish 
life, and intermarriage tending to disrupt the group becomes logically 
impossible for those who wish to preserve the cultural values of the 
ethnic minority as vital living forces. The 'Community' theory, 
therefore, presupposes marriage within the group only as the general 
practice. What local autonomy and territorial boundaries would 
accomplish in the 'Federation of Nationalities' theory would be 
assured in our own view through family solidarity. To bring about 
the ethnic 'purity' indirect and intrinsic influences are conceived as 
functioning. The sanction for intermarriage would rest in the 
recognition that the ethnic group is of spiritual significance, not 
primarily on religious basis or communal pressure. Marriage within 
the group would be the result of free choice to preserve the cultural 
inheritance, not the impulse of racial clannishness or the dictates of a 
superstitious tribalism. Our theory, moreover, does not propose 
absolute non-intermarriage either as possible or as desirable. Wher- 
ever the ethnic affiliation has lost its significance, either because the 
individual is too gross to appreciate it or because a universal cause, 
such as science, music or art has become a religious enthusiasm and 
displaced other loyalties, intermarriage may take place without social 
detriment. In the one case, no cultural value exists anyway; in the 
other case, we may console ourselves that new spiritual values have 
been substituted. It is when the ethnic loyalty is obliterated without 
providing something equally akin to the nature of the person and 
equally elevating that a loss has been sustained. Once assuming 
the value of the ethnic group, a nucleus of family solidarity becomes 
necessary. Intermarriage dare not proceed to the point where it 
threatens the life of the community. This the community must 
prevent, not by religious ban or social ostracism, but by providing the 
educational influences which would lead the individual to cherish the 
cultural and spiritual values of the group. 

Such exclusiveness may seem at first inconsistent with the free 
interchange of forces that the democratic idea demands. But the 
right to preserve the identity implies also the right to preserve those 
institutions which are basic. The process of mutual interchange 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 109 

cannot proceed to the point where one of the bodies involved is 
destroyed, for that would prevent a further exchange of forces. The 
Jewish family must undoubtedly be open to influences of American 
life and be modified by them, but it would not be necessary for, or 
really consistent with, our theory to destroy it. Upholding in theory 
the right of free immigration and favoring the resulting interchange of 
forces, one may still counsel restriction when the volume of immigra- 
tion threatens to swamp America and its quality to undermine our 
institutions. There must be a balance in the elements of give and 
take to preserve the entities. In the 'Community' theory the family 
is the keystone of the social situation; if it should be destroyed the 
whole would crumble. 

Zionism^ 

It is to be understood that the 'Community' theory is not offered as 
a total solution of the Jewish problem, the problem of freedom for 
the Jewish People to live and to create in harmony with the spirit of 
its history and its genius. The theory presented purposes only to pre- 
serve Jewish life for the Jew living in America and through him for 
America. In the task of solving the larger Jewish problem the writer 
is in thorough accord with the Zionists who maintain that an autono- 
mous Jewish community with a territorial basis in Palestine is necessary 
for the free development of the Jewish cultural and spiritual life. 
Indeed the Zionist idea becomes even more ru-gent in view of the type 
of adjustment, admittedly precarious for the ethnic group, demanded 
by the democratic conditions. Even the possibility of maintaining a 
vital ethnic culture in the diaspora is dependent upon the existence of 
a cultural center to serve as a source of spiritual replenishment and to 
prevent the ethnic spirit from becoming the petrified relic of an ancient 
grandeur. The 'Community' theory becomes a hopeful solution only 
if there will be established an autonomous Jewish center in Palestine. 



^Theodore Herzl, The Jewish State, Altneuland, Zionistische Schriften; Leo Pinsker, 
Auto-Emancipation; Moses Hess, Rome and Jerusalem. 

Ahad Ha' Am (Asher Ginsberg) Al Parashat Derachim, 4 vols.; Selected Essays, 
Translated from the Hebrew by Leon Simon; Horace M. Kallen, Constitutional Founda- 
tions of the New Zion; Richard Gottheil, Zionism; Jessie E. Sampter, A Guide to 
Zionism. 



110 THEORIES Ol^ AMERICANIZATION 

Our theory, then, becomes part of an international conception. The 
Jewish community in America is regarded as one of many sister 
communities throughout the world, each adjusted to the social and 
political conditions of the land of habitation, bound together by its 
cultural-religious inheritance and by the spiritual inspiration of the 
Palestinian center. It is completely in accord and really an elabora- 
tion of the Culture-Zionist theory formulated by Ahad Ha-Am. 
Involving as it does an affiliation with a foreign land it will be neces- 
sary to make clear what is involved in such a loyalty. 

In the first place, even an elementary understanding of the charac- 
ter of the Zionist movement should prevent us from setting up a 
bugaboo to frighten us into believing that here lurks the monster of a 
dual political allegiance. The aspiration for the return to Palestine is 
essentially spiritual, resting upon the prayerful longing for the She- 
chinah's return to Zion which animates the Jewish liturgy. There 
enters into the Zionist hope, no doubt, a complex of unfulfilled desires, 
the counterpart of two thousand years of political, economic, and 
social repression; and the modern leaders who created the machinery 
of Zionism often looked upon their movement as a means of obtaining 
equal rights for Jews. Nevertheless, the thought of cultural freedom 
is central. The political idea enters only in so far as it is seen to be 
prerequisite to cultural self-determination. Especially in the 
formulation of Ahad Ha-Am which has now become widely accepted 
among Zionists the cultural idea becomes predominant. In harmony 
with a rationalistic trend of thought Ahad Ha-Am gives Zionism a 
broadly cultural rather than religious atmosphere. He does not 
minimize the importance of political and practical plans. In fact 
he goes even further than former writers in demanding practical 
insight and thorough logic. He has pointed out, nevertheless, that 
Palestine can be no ultimate solution for the problems of economic 
and political exploitation of the Jew and of social anti-Semitism, if for 
no other reasons than because Palestine is not large enough for the 
settlement of a large majority of the Jews. It might, indeed, serve 
incidentally as a refuge in times of particular stress in some countries 
and might become a source of influence for the general amelioration of 
conditions. But these benefits must be considered incidental. The 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 111 

problem of the equality of political and civil rights must find its solu- 
tion, even if slowly, with the humanization of Western civilization. 
Palestine is not the solution of the problems of the Jews as individ- 
uals. But it can become a haven for the Jewish soul, a place where 
Judaism as a national culture may be perpetuated and attain a full 
and unhampered development. What is being threatened is Jewish 
civilization which needs its own social background and atmosphere for 
free growth; above all it is a spiritual slavery from which the Jew 
must be emancipated. This thought has undoubtedly become the 
central idea in the modern Zionist philosophy. 

In thinking, then, of a Jewish nation in Palestine, and of the relation 
to it of the American Jewish Community, it must be borne in mind 
that to the Zionist the words 'nation' and 'national' have a pre- 
dominantly cultural (i.e., psychological) connotation, more familiar 
perhaps to English readers when the term 'nationality' is used.^ 
They want a place where those Jews who so desire may follow their 
own customs, speak their own language, attend their own schools and 
live in accordance with their traditions and ideals. In this concep- 
tion of nationality they follow that school of nationalists, disciples of 
Mazzini, to whom group individuality is justified not by its power to 
dominate but by its ability to serve. Nationality is conceived of in 
terms not incompatible with, but helpful for the good of mankind. 

The allegiance that the Jew in America may offer to Palestine in 
accordance with the 'Community' theory is a spiritual allegiance to a 
cultural center. In his economic life he must by force of circum- 
stances be subject to the conditions of the country in which he lives. 
In his political life, he must by virtue of the duty that his oath of 
citizenship implies, give a complete allegiance to America. In the 
event of any political differences between the two countries, although 
the Jews might do their best to avoid an open break, ultimately each 
citizen must side with the land of his habitation. His spiritual 
attachment, if we speak honestly, cannot be forced either to Palestine 

*See War and Democracy, Chap. II. When an American says 'nation,' he thinks of 
government. When a cultural-Zionist (or many of the representatives of small 
nationalities) uses the word he thinks of language and literature. It is important to 
note that most of the confusion in reference to Zionism comes from an equivocal mean- 
ing of the word 'nation.' 



112 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

or to America. It will go to both if the life of both are inspiring, 
provided that both are open to him. Living in America and attend- 
ing the public schools insm-es contact with American life; the family 
and the Jewish school provide an opportunity for learning the signifi- 
cance of his people's history. 

It must be borne carefully in mind, then, in urging the value of the 
retention of an ethnic loyalty that a clear distinction must be made 
between the political and cultural aspects of the term 'nation.' Indeed, 
it is possible even to feel friendly towards or even lend aid to foreign 
governments as we do to allied governments. In case of a conflict, 
allegiance is due solely to the land of one's citizenship. Cultural 
loyalties, however, since they partake of the nature of spiritual goods, 
need not conflict with each other. Thus even during the war all but 
the chauvinists realized that a distinction was to be drawn between 
the literary, artistic and spiritual products of the German people and 
the government of the German militaristic clique. In all thinking 
on the question of national privileges and rights of self-determination 
this important difference between a cultural and political allegiance 
must be borne in mind. It is explicitly understood that a cultural 
not a political allegiance to Palestine is involved in our conception, 
and that this cultural loyalty is compatible with an allegiance to the 
culture of America. The political allegiance is single and to the land 
of citizenship. 

Such an organization of a people as is here contemplated, inter- 
national in its scope, must itself become a force anxious to maintain 
the integrity of international relationships. It is one of those factors 
the multiplication of which makes surer the possibility of a League of 
Nations bound not only by verbal and legal agreements but also by a 
common good will and community of interests. It is one of those 
bonds which must make keener the realization that all modern wars 
are civil wars. While not in the end interfering with a wholehearted, 
complete allegiance to particular states, there is here a force working 
in the direction of mitigating and ultimately displacing that danger 
which is ever present in the current emphasis on economic national- 
ism.^ 

iSee Chap. IV. 



the community theory 113 

Variability in Retention of Ethnic Allegiance 

It becomes apparent if we bear closely in mind the cultural nature 
of the allegiance proposed by the 'Community' theory of adjustment, 
that individuals will vary greatly in the degree and kind of their 
loyalty. Even when we are thinking primarily of political loyalties 
there is a great range of variation in the manner and readiness with 
which the citizen is prepared to perform his duties. But, granted that 
he performs them, we must in a practical sense count him among 
those who serve the country. When a cultural loyalty is involved the 
range of variation is surely wider, for there is no legally established 
minimum for spiritual allegiance. In addition to this the multiplic- 
ity of cultural forces assumed to play upon the individuals in any 
ethnic group will surely tend to increase the individual variability 
in retention of the ethnic attachment. It must be remembered, then, 
that in urging the perpetuation of the ethnic group through cultural 
forces we can never expect every individual within the group to retain 
allegiance or that all should retain it in equal degree. The range 
would vary through small and graded differences from the individual 
whose knowledge, ethnic consciousness and loyalty equalled that of an 
educated person in the homeland to the individual who had inter- 
married and severed all relations with the group in which he was born. 

The following estimate of the maximum expectation for retention 
of the ethnic loyalty among the Jews may help to make more concrete 
the idea of variability in type of allegiance contemplated in the 
'Community' theory of adjustment. For the purposes of our dis- 
cussion the Jews may be conceived as being divided into six classes, as 
follows : 

Class A. Cultural Allegiance. In this group would be included 
those upon whose personality the culture ideals and aspirations of 
the ethnic group have a shaping influence. Within the group there 
would naturally be variability, for the variations are conceived as 
individual. The maximum attainment would be such a knowl- 
edge of the language, literature and social life of the ethnic group as 
would be expected from an educated person in the homeland of the 
ethnos. The minimum would be a sufficient knowledge of the 



114 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

language and life of the ethnic group to make possible an appreciation 
of the literary culture of the group. Together with this knowledge 
and appreciation would generally go a desire to maintain and to per- 
petuate the type of cultural life represented by the ethnic group. 
Needless to repeat, such a complete ethnic loyalty is regarded as 
altogether compatible with an equally complete allegiance to America. 
Intellectual capability and education, not an exclusive spirit, will 
develop class A. 

Class B. Synagogue and Ceremonial Allegiance. In this group 
would fall those whose main center of gravity lies not in the cultural 
life itself but who maintain contact with the spiritual productions of 
the Jewish people through its religious institutions. The religious 
institutions, it might be said, represent a selected, crystallized and 
attenuated form of the products of the Jewish social life and of the 
Jewish mind. Undoubtedly when the shell of religiosity is broken 
and the inner meaning realized these institutions represent the most 
significant products of the Jewish past. The prayer book, much of 
the Biblical literature and some of the Talmudic writings may be 
acquired in this manner. For this class Jewish life and thought still 
function to some degree in a significant national cultural way. 
This type of adherence is usually maintained through orthodox or 
conservative synagogues where the service is mainly in Hebrew and 
approximates the traditional. 

Classes C and D. Formal Non-Functioning ''Religious' Adherence. 
In these classes would fall those who regard their Jewish allegiance as 
'religious' in the conventional sense of the term. The Jewish prac- 
tices are regarded as a variant form of religion, coordinate with 
Protestantism and Catholicism. In these groups would fall the great 
majority who follow out of force of convention and social momentum. 
An element of ancestor worship and superstition prevents them from 
abandoning "the faith." Jewishness really contributes nothing to 
their lives which another religious practice or ceremonial could not do 
quite as well. These individuals have not the energy or interest to 
make something out of their allegiance and yet lack the initiative to 
break away and to adopt a new "ism." The formal religious adher- 
ence, however, would still tend to prevent intermarriage. 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 115 

In Class C can be included those who still maintain part of the 
Jewish ritual and ceremonial and who attend either an orthodox or 
a conservative synagogue on the Holy Days. In Class D can be in- 
cluded those who have given up Jewish ceremonial practices and who 
attend a 'Reform' synagogue (i.e., one in which the service is mainly in 
English and which in many respects resembles the service in certain of 
the Protestant churches rather than that of the traditional Jewish 
synagogue). 

Class E. Social and Philanthropic Connection. In this group 
would be included those to whom the cultural allegiance is meaningless 
and even the formal religious adherence secondary, but who maintain 
distinctly Jewish associations through the social set with which they 
usually mingle or through their interest in Jewish philanthropy and 
Jewish aflfairs. All the groups preceding this one would tend to 
marry only within the Jewish group. The individuals in this group 
may be considered as not unwilling to intermarry. 

Class F. Severance of the Ethnic Relation and Intermarriage. In 
this group would be included those who have practically severed all 
connection with Jewish life and whose origin is the only distinguishing 
mark. Accident rather than desire would decide whether these 
would intermarry. 

The classification is offered as neither an exact nor a complete 
description of Jewish types but merely as a means of holding in mind 
the broadest differentiations. The groups are not sharply divided 
nor mutually exclusive. It will not be necessary, futhermore, for an 
individual to go through all the stages before reaching intermarriage, 
though that may be the tendency. Classification in relation to cul- 
tural allegiance does not imply a similar degree of religious piety nor, 
on the other hand, the opposite. Many individuals in Class A will be 
indifferent or avowedly opposed to established religion while many 
ignorant of Jewish culture in any real sense of the word may be 
deemed "orthodox." Among the intermarried, furthermore, one 
occasionally finds both learned and loyal Jews. With these precau- 
tions in mind we may say that under normal conditions, provided 
immigration is not unduly accelerated by untoward political and 
social conditions in other lands and provided an adequate school 



116 THEORIS OF AMERICANIZATION 

system implied in the 'Community' theory of adjustment has been 
functioning, the maximum expectation would be a distribution some- 
thing as follows, graphically: 




and in percentages: 

A. Cultural Allegiance 10% per cent. 

B. Synagogue and Ceremonial Allegiance 15% 

C. and D. Formal Non-Functioning 'Religious' Adherence ..50% 

E. Social and Philanthropic Connection 15% 

F. Severance of Ethnic Relation and Intermarriage . . 10% 

Summarizing, twenty-five per cent would in some manner be 
influenced in a positive way by the ethnic culture, twenty-five per 
cent would be on the road to complete fusion and fifty per cent would 
in reality not be affected in a significant way by the ethnic culture 
though retaining the ethnic allegiance as a formality. 

The estimate of ten per cent for the group in Class A is at present 
only an ideal. The percentage of American born children whom it 
would be possible to classify under A would be far below one per cent. 
The estimate for the group in Class F of those who have severed con- 
nection and are prepared for intermarriage, is very close to if not 
above the percentage given. It is evident, therefore, that the forces 
of the environment are considered by the writer as on the whole 
disintegrating to a significant Jewish loyalty on the part of the 
majority. The highest to be hoped for from such a scheme as is 
presented in the 'Community' theory of adjustment is to retain a 



THE COMMUNITY THEORY 117 

small proportion of those born within the group attached in a signifi- 
cant cultural way to the group. Even such success as is implied 
here is doubtful and if attained at all will be only through the expendi- 
ture of directed thought and conscious action. 

To those who are deeply concerned for the perpetuation of the 
national culture and identity such an analysis may seem disappoint- 
ing to the hope for retention of the subsidiary ethnic groups. Never- 
theless, the type of adjustment sketched in the 'Community' theory 
seems to be the only one compatible with the notions of democracy. 
To restrict the free flow of currents of life from the general environ- 
ment in such a way that some particular tradition may be artificially 
protected, would not harmonize with the basic idea of freedom for the 
development of individuality which is the main plea. In view of the 
fact that the type of adjustment demanded in the democratic countries 
in which the Jews live provides for only a limited and doubtful 
perpetuation the necessity for a cultural center in Palestine becomes 
all the more urgent. The Zionist idea is an important factor in this 
whole scheme of adjustment. By insuring the Jewish future in 
Palestine it permits the Jews in the diaspora to adjust themselves in 
harmony with the principles and conditions of each land without 
becoming guilty of the destruction of their people. This inter- 
national conception of the organization of Jewish life leaves the indi- 
vidual most free in choosing whether he should continue in the life to 
which he was born and also in what manner and in what degree. 

Summary 

The 'Community' theory endeavors to meet all the justifiable 
considerations presented in each of the other proposals. It seeks 
especially to avoid such a scheme of adjustment as would tend to 
force the individual to accept one solution as against another. It 
leaves all the forces working; they are to decide what the future is to 
be. Both the 'Americanization' and 'Federation of Nationalities' 
theories presume too much to 'fix' conditions; the one would make 
the citizen conform to the nature of a mythical Anglo-Saxon, and the 
other to harmonize with the soul assumed to reside in the ethnos. 
The contention of the 'Community' theory is that neither of these 



118 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

facts can so easily be taken for granted, and urges that all forces be 
given a just opportunity to exert their influence. If these conditions 
are granted and the ethnic group perpetuates itself, only then does it 
become justified to the reason. On the other hand, if the ethnic 
group finally disintegrates, the 'Community' theory really resolves 
itself into the 'Melting Pot' theory, accomplishing the fusion without 
the evils of hasty assimilation. Its essential merit is that it rejects 
the doctrine of predestination; it conceives the life of the individual 
to be formed not in accordance with some preconceived theory but 
as a result of the interaction of his own nature with the richest 
environment. In this it satisfies the basic notion of democracy that 
the individual must be left free to develop through forces selected by 
the laws of his own nature, not moulded by factors determined upon 
by others either in the interest of themselves or in accordance with an 
assumed good. 

So, too, a comparison with our three criteria, the imique individual, 
enrichment of environment, and dependence upon social institutions, 
finds the 'Community' theory the most adequate solution. It pro- 
vides in greatest measure for conceiving the individual as creator of 
and participant in the culture to be evolved, and allows at the same 
time for a great degree of individual diversification. It strives for a 
culture enriched by the contributions from many cultures and thus 
multiplies the possibilities of varied experience. It intensifies the idea 
of duty and responsibility to social life and institutions by adding the 
ethnic group and all the significant institutions connected with its 
history to the burden of civilization that each developed citizen must 
bear. It offers the greatest opportunity for the creation of a free, 
rich and lofty Personality. 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 



CHAPTER IV 
THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 

I 

The Basis of Evaluation 

The defense of the right of the ethnic group to preserve its identity- 
is usually based upon a claim to unique cultural possessions. This is 
well illustrated in the tendency to seek in Judaism peculiar values, a 
mode of thought, a theology or a moral code. Jewish apologists and 
protagonists both go about the task with the implication that Israel 
may continue to live only if it have a unique contribution to make 
different from and superior to what might be made by another group. 
Such an approach is altogether indefensible. The ethnic group is not 
a system of ideas but a nationality, a community of persons; it is a 
living reality related, indeed, to thought, but still flesh and blood 
and desire and no mere pale abstraction. In considering whether a 
person is worthy of living or not, we do not require that he be indis- 
pensable for the conduct of the nation or of the world. We do not 
seek in him a virtue which no one else possesses in any degree or a 
faculty that is unique. Were such a test applied to each individual, 
perhaps all men would be morally bound to commit suicide. Even 
geniuses are not indispensable. It is enough that each one is unique 
and serves along with the rest. In any case each man's individuality, 
even though unique, is made up of common human qualities and aspi- 
rations. So, too, every nation^ must be conceived as a personality 
unique but not altogether different; serving but not indispensable. 
Some nations are greater, some more gifted, some have longer and 
richer traditions — but they are all nations and each has the same right 

^It is sometimes objected that the analogy between individual and nation is not 
correct, that it is not necessary to justify the life of the individual because instinctive 
forces keep him alive, while the life of the nation depends upon habits and attitudes 
which have been acquired and need to be perpetuated. This argument might indeed 
be to the point had we in mind to create new peoples or to resurrect dead ones. But 
we are discussing living peoples with a desire to maintain identity. The will to live 
is the fact which must be reckoned with, whether it is innate or acquired. 

121 



122 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

to live. It is not necessary to show that each nation has certain 
characteristics, without which the world would not get along, or 
which no other nation has in any degree. It is not necessary to prove 
that if it should perish, either liberty, or justice, or religion, or the 
ethical life would perish from the earth. However great its contribu- 
tion in these fields may be, it cannot have a monopoly in these things, 
nor should that be expected. 

Our own argument for the perpetuation of the foreign ethnic groups 
in the United States has been based not upon any demonstration of 
the value of the cultural contribution that any such group might 
make but upon the right to life and expression of personality inherent 
in the nature of the individual. Incidentally, indeed, it has been 
assumed that some of them, at least, will contribute to the develop- 
ment and to the enrichment of our own culture. But throughout 
the whole discussion the fundamental position has been that in a 
democracy no demonstration of value is needed precedent to permit- 
ting either an individual or a group to live. The validity of an experi- 
ence cannot be demonstrated to any one who has not undergone, 
either actually or by sympathetic imagination, a similar experience. 
There is no reason, furthermore, why it should justify itself to anyone 
else except where it also affects another person in an appreciable 
degree. Music does not justify itself by an appeal to those who have 
no ear for music, but by the opinion of the musicians. Philosophy, 
too, is justified because, for the philosopher, the unthinking life is 
not worth living. So the ultimate judgment of the value of the ethnic 
group must be in the experience of the person who has lived the life of 
the ethnic group. Life justifies itself. It is the suppression of life 
that needs justification. Indeed, if it is clearly shown that the 
presence or activities of any particular group cannot be continued 
except at the expense of other groups or of the total group, then 
its activities must be restrained within just bounds, or altogether 
eliminated when there is no other way out. However, when no 
impartial demonstration of the evil effects of the presence of any group 
is possible, then 'tolerance' must be Democracy's rule; the fm-ther 
assumption being that any such 'tolerated' group, which has no 
contribution to make, must of itself become disintegrated under the 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 123 

influences which are bound to play upon it in the presence of the free 
interchange of currents of thought and Hfe characteristic of a true 
democracy. The burden of proof always lies upon those who would 
curtail an activity, especially when such action implies the negation 
of the aspirations of persons. 

Such a position is the logical conclusion of our democratic assump- 
tion which maintains that the subjects of experience are the primary 
judges of life's values. Nevertheless, a reasonable person, not too 
much concerned with the conclusions of logic, may feel unsatisfied 
with such a strict position, in spite of the rational assent which he 
may feel forced to give to the line of argument. Granting to the 
ethnic group the right to maintain its identity, one may still wish to 
know why it should avail itself of its right. While still maintaining 
that the ethnic life needs no a priori defense, this chapter dealing 
with the value of the ethnic group has been included to add to the 
formal, intellectual consent the force of a moral conviction. In this 
it is not the intention to return to the position of the apologist who 
lays claim to a unique superior virtue for his people. We shall not 
expect an explication of a superior religion, ethical code or Weltan- 
schauung. All that will be done will be to point out several ways in 
which the ethnic loyalty in general and the Jewish loyalty in parti- 
cular may be of human significance. 

Needless to say, the member of the ethnic group is not necessarily 
motivated in a conscious manner by such significances. If grasped 
at all, they are gathered from fragmentary experiences. What keeps 
the individual loyal to his group is a complex of daily lifelong associa- 
tions whose satisfactions are intimate and subtle. In any case it 
would be difficult to transmit the meaning of a melody, of a witticism, 
or of a ceremony and when these are interwoven with the life and 
history of a foreign group, the task becomes well nigh impossible. 
It would require learning the literature and social life not only 
objectively but through living in the society of the people. Undoubt- 
edly it is these bits of "eternity in the narrow span of a song," the 
satisfactions which reside in the very living and daily contact, which 
build the desire to perpetuate the ethnic associations rather than the 
very conscious humane values which will be described below. 



124 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

But here, too, we find a parallel with the life of the individual. 
Unconscious, unmoral forces make him persist. And yet out of the 
flux of life can be gathered certain values which are of humane 
significance and which make life worth while. The attempt here then 
will be neither to recount the rich, individual experiences which in 
reality furnish the motive forces for group persistence nor to elaborate 
a theory calculated to convert, but to point some values which raise 
the ethnic loyalty from the plane of the merely satisfying to a moral, 
ideal experience. 

II 

Sincerity of Outlook 

When Socrates, disillusioned but stiU courageous, ventured on the 
quest for truth, he determined that his primary task was to know 
himself. For all knowledge in the sense of wisdom is a knowledge 
of the relationship of one's own self to the rest of the world, to the 
many persons, ideas and things. To understand how each event which 
we have experienced or caused is connected up with numberless past 
events and to know the possible effects that it may have on all the 
rest of the world and upon ourselves in the future, is knowledge. To 
understand who we are, we must understand our relationship to the 
many possible things in the world. To understand the world is the 
same thing as to understand the relations of all things in the world to 
ourselves. To understand the world on the hypothesis that one is 
something else than human is as impossible as to conceive of move- 
ment in a spaceless world. The two notions are correlative. 

One's nature and one's every act is the point of reference for true 
wisdom. It makes no difference whether the events that we are 
concerned in are the result of our own doing or not; the same responsi- 
bility of assuming the obligation of the relationship is involved. One 
may vainly cry that he did not ask his parents to give him birth; 
but he must still take the responsibility of his own needs and of his 
own life. Happening to be, we must understand our relations to 
other beings who happen to be, and the moral responsibility rests upon 
us to gain deeper and deeper insight into the complexity of the 
relationships. To close one's eyes to any fact in one's life and refuse 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 125 

to face the consequences is to court not only practical destruction 
but also moral and intellectual disintegration. Some facts are so 
important for our physical well-being that to neglect them is to hazard 
death; other suppressions may lead to abnormal psychoses. Even 
when these obvious abnormalities are not the result, a failure to 
realize possible significances means failure to be intelligent. Every 
event can be constructed into a universe, and to do less than one can 
with the events of one's own life is to be in a sense morally derelict. 

Now a part of the circumstance of every one who is born of a foreign 
ethnic group is just this fact. Just as he was born human, and of the 
male sex, and in New York, he was also born, let us say, a Pole. 
His extraction is an event which must be reckoned with as every 
other event, i.e., he must recognize its significations. He may 
ultimately choose to continue or to sever this association, but the 
necessity of reckoning and understanding the fact is basic. Whether 
his "consciousness of kind" is the result of a certain racial composi- 
tion, or whether it is the result of habits formed in the early stages of 
life through association, the effect is the same. The man knows 
himself as a Pole. To suppress this fact in his life in order to satisfy 
convention or public opinion is similar in its effect upon moral integrity 
to the suppression of instinct. The sound, virile person finds such 
prudery and hypocrisy odious and impossible. It makes a breach in 
his character. The sincere periSon must go about the world recogniz- 
ing and assuming responsibility for what he is. Then he may hope 
to get somewhere. 

The importance of recognizing the ethnic origin is enhanced if we 
grant that there is a possibility of connection between the race and 
the individual soul. Our own discussion has not assumed that every 
person born of a foreign ethnic group can find his salvation only 
through that group. No such inevitability of connection can be 
taken for granted. But there is the possibility, even the likelihood, 
that some can find their highest expression of happiness only in the 
culture of the ethnic group. It is reasonable to suppose that in a 
family of musical reputation some of the children have musical 
genius. It is their right to receive at least the elements of a musical 
education to determine whether their bent lies that way. So, too, 



126 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

unless an opportunity is given to the citizen of foreign extraction to 
know his people, we cannot be sure that we have not violated or 
crushed what is most significant in him. The core of truth in the 
dictum, "A man cannot change his grandfathers," might be para- 
phrased, "A man dare not fail to know who his grandfathers were." 
Especially when one belongs to the Jewish group does the necessity 
of reckoning with the fact of origin present itself. A Jew must be 
conscious of himself, not only because he wishes to, but also because 
the world whether in malice or in curiosity singles him out and makes 
him so self-conscious. The Jew, too, has played and still plays such 
a part in the world that the possible significances are unusually 
varied and complex. 

To teach one to forget his ethnic connection as is proposed by the 
'Americanization' theory is to make a breach in the moral foundation 
of one's character. An experience may be surpassed or understood; 
but to forget it is not moral. Of all the immoralities in the world 
lack of memory and lack of imagination are the joint parents. Our 
educational system can never mean much unless it realizes that wisdom 
must be based on understanding of experience and instinct. What 
a tragically superficial insight is revealed in the failure to understand 
that the welfare of the nation is bound up above all with sincerity of 
character ! 

The knowledge which men have, if it is to remain true, cannot 
consist of collections of memorized phrases conceived of as universally 
applicable. If a man is to remain whole, there must be an integra- 
tion in his character. His instincts must be related to his experience, 
his former habits to his later associations. The various phases of his 
environment must be related to his growing self. A complete unifica- 
tion of character is attainable, in the midst of our complex and rushed 
environment with its abrupt transitions, by comparatively few. 
And for those few it is attainable only through a sincere recognition 
of what they are. To one who has been born in a relationship to a 
foreign ethnic group such an integration of character is not ultimately 
possible without a full realization of the significance of this connection. 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 127 

III 

Loyalty to a Minority 

To the thoughtful member of a foreign ethnic community loyalty 
to a minority becomes a severe mental and moral discipline. His 
mode of life, his religious views, his evaluations are all called into 
question by the presence of the dominant current of thought. He 
must answer not only to the satisfaction of his neighbors but also 
(what is spiritually even more difficult) to the satisfaction of himself. 
His life is brought up from beneath the psychological threshold to the 
plane of conscious understanding. He must justify his ways to him- 
self. If he survives in his loyalty, his life must be more highly self- 
conscious and rationalized than it need be for him who accepts current 
ways and modes of thought which are socially approved. He cannot 
follow the ethnic tradition blindly for it is constantly subject to criti- 
cism by the standards of the new life. He tends, therefore, to select 
and to perpetuate only those elements in the group culture which are 
of significance. 

Likewise his loyalty to America tends to be raised from the level 
of easy acquiescence with the established order and the majority 
and from a purely emotional chauvinistic support to the plane of 
criticism by standards and rational appreciation. Forced to find 
worth and beauty in his own people's life to sanction his loyalty he 
carries over the same habit of thought in thinking of the new culture. 
America makes him ask himself, "Why is the heritage of my people 
worth preserving?" In finding a reply he cannot fail to begin to 
compare and to seek to understand what is truly profound and spiri- 
tual in American life. For his loyalty is not to the land as such, 
he has not lived here long enough; nor to its people, he does not know 
them well enough; but primarily to the ideal America about which 
he has thought and dreamed. Trained to seek below the surface of 
his own tradition, he will tend to look for what is exalted in American 
life and to base his loyalty upon a conscious realization of the signifi- 
cance of America. 

In a deep sense he learns that the right is not always with the 
mighty. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to liberalism and a progres- 



128 THEORIES OF AMEBICANIZATION 

sive civilization is the fact that men still believe in their hearts that 
might makes right in spite of their professed belief in the religions of 
righteousness that have sprmig from the East. But the member of 
the minority group has it borne in upon him through his personal 
experience that the majority may be in the wrong, may fail to under- 
stand, may be spiritually obtuse. His sympathies are extended to 
the struggle of minorities all over the world and he gains insight into 
the life of peoples who are not of the politically dominant races. 

IV 

Multiple Cultural Loyalty 

Those who have broken with the group usually consider themselves 
'broadminded. ' The loyalty to a minority ethnic group is often 
conceived of as narrowing. When the allegiance had been given 
blindly and exclusively to the family tradition, this may be true. 
But when it is given intelligently and with discrimination, without 
yielding the allegiance to the State and culture it represents, the 
double loyalty becomes a powerful force toward humanization. 

The knowledge of another language, another history, and another 
point of view, is in itself a liberalizing influence. All additional 
knowledge is protection against indoctrination — a freeing of the mind. 
Knowledge of other peoples is not necessarily an allegiance. One 
may know very much about German philosophy and literature and 
yet not approve of them. Nevertheless, in the literature and culture 
of every developed nation humane elements will be found — interests 
and thoughts which conceive of life not from the narrow nationalistic 
point of view, but from the broadly human, universal outlook. 
Knowledge of these brings with it an appreciation which is psychologi- 
cally an incipient loyalty. In so far as we have a love for foreign 
and ancient literatures and languages, we have the beginnings of an 
allegiance towards them. When this appreciation reaches out into 
the plane of action, when in addition to the intellectual and aesthetic 
appreciation there is involved also the emotional appreciation 
imperative to further these activities, then a loyalty has come into 
being. When the notion of duty enters, then the allegiance has been 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 129 

pledged. And it is here, where emotions and actions are involved, 
that a multiple loyalty becomes especially significant. 

For emotions and actions are subject to conflict, and conflict tends 
to be resolved into harmony. The need of furthering two distinct 
cultures must lead to an elimination of those elements which are 
mutually incompatible and to the emphasis upon those elements 
in each which have a universal interest. Each group culture contains 
within it elements of an international character, and attention 
must be centered upon these if both loyalties are to be retained. 
As in the individual, the variety of conflicting instincts and emotions 
must lead to a process of elimination, modification and development 
resulting in the creation of a rational philosophy and mode of life, so, 
too, allegiance to more than one social group must lead to a larger 
view of life because it brings more knowledge and appreciation, but 
especially because the loyalties are under the necessity of rationaliza- 
tion. 

It was not because they had a double allegiance that hyphenated 
Americans were odious. It was because in their case the hyphen was a 
pretense or considered to be so, and used in order to hide the actual 
fact of a single rival allegiance to a foreign government. Had they 
been true hyphenates, owing equal allegiance to both peoples and 
really equally interested in the welfare of both, they would have been 
led to judge not from prejudice, but from the rule of right. And 
from the. moral viewpoint at least, there could be nothing better. 
It is just the presence of true hypenates, men who loved other nations 
as they did this, that gave our purposes in the war aims more truly 
human and less selfish than could otherwise have been possible. 

The significance of a double allegiance, it should be noted, is greater 
than twice a single allegiance. Double here means multiple. The 
knowledge of an additional language and culture and the understand- 
ing of another people means not only a personality richer by so much. 
It means rather what an additional dimension does in spatial relations. 
It gives perspective. It opens up the mind to a new concept; there 
are other nations than one's own. The change of view is of significance 
not only for the additional nationality for which the interest is aroused 
but for the whole mental outlook. It prevents the mind from falling 



130 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

into the natural tendency of imagining that one's own culture is the 
only culture worthy of the name, and one's own countrymen, the 
only real humans. Interest in another nationality must go far 
toward giving one an international, as against a provincial outlook. 
Differences are seen more readily in their proportion; it is under- 
stood that humanity can speak in other languages, express itself in 
other cultures, exist in other physiognomies. 

True universalization, colloquially called 'broadmindedness,' can 
come only through the multiplication of loyalties, not through the 
suppression of them, just as true spirituality comes from the 
addition of interests which must be harmonized, not through sup- 
pression of instincts. This is especially true in the present condition 
of society. There is no International Country to which we might 
give our allegiance. We must give it to the existing nations which 
are all particularistic. Otherwise we turn out in practical life to be 
disloyal, however conscientiously we may be true to our dreams. 
We cannot speak a universal language. We may speak one tongue 
or many. We cannot be everywhere. We must be in one place or 
in many places. Universalization cannot be promoted by abolition 
of nations (they cannot be abolished by fiat, nor can an international 
humanity be created by fiat) but by the multiplication of the number 
of nations toward which we feel sympathetic, leading to an emphasis 
upon the international elements in each nation. 

There is, of course, the well recognized danger in such a multipli- 
cation of allegiance. It sometimes permits a double and sinister 
'political allegiance to mask under the cover of a cultural interest. 
Sometimes, too, the humane interest may lead to a political allegiance 
conflicting with patriotism. When this leads to the ascendancy of 
right as against selfish national prejudice, then it cannot be con- 
sidered as anything but beneficial. When it leads to the loyalty to 
a foreign government as against right, it is reprehensible. But the 
chances for such an unrighteous foreign allegiance are small under the 
influence of our own environment, provided that our scheme of educa- 
tion is such as is assumed here, where every child must attend the 
public schools. When such a disloyal foreign allegiance does occur, 
it must be treated as a separate problem. We do not maintain that 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 131 

people should not heed their conscience, because that may lead to the 
conscientious objector, who is, as we think, unreasonable in his plea 
of conscience and, in effect, though not in motive, disloyal. We do 
not suppress individuality because its expression sometines leads 
to selfishness. Nor should we suppress the double cultm-al allegiance 
which is essentially humanizing because under present conditions 
where war is possible (in itself a most irrational condition in civilized 
society) it may at times create difficulties. 

Multiple cultiu-al allegiance is in itself a force tending to remove 
the likelihood of war. The notorious fact that international science, 
art and religion were of little avail in stemming the tide of war and 
the surprising ease with which savants, social workers and ministers 
found it possible to lose sight of universal interests, even to turn 
chauvinists, should warn us against expecting too much from merely 
ideal bonds. One's closest friends are still for the most part in one's 
own country; and control of military and police forces, of education, 
of the means of forming public opinion and of a multitude of other 
conditions gives the national government a stranglehold upon the 
lives of its citizens. Nevertheless, the ever-present danger of conflict 
between nation and nation can be overcome only by a multiplication 
of international ties until they become numerous and strong enough 
to bear the strain of national separatism. A League of Nations can 
. become effective only in so far as it is an expression of a community 
of international interests and is based securely upon a multipUcity 
of interdependences. The further development of communication, 
the growth of economic interdependence, the multiplication of many 
forms of international societies and above all revision of education 
so that it may make apparent, not obscure, the existence of these 
many interdependences must precede any lasting peace. Important 
among these interrelationships is the consciousness of kinship rising 
out of the multiple cultural allegiance. It is significant that the 
presence of foreign ethnic groups gave us great concern during the 
war. Only the conviction that the Central Powers had violated the 
peace of the world could break the force of this international bond. 
On the other hand, our best evidence that double allegiances are 
not fatal comes from the experience of the war. The presence of 



132 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

hyphenated Americans did not prevent us from winning the war. 
Perhaps it even aided us for it forced us to become clear as to our 
purposes. How could the many conflicting loyalties of our varie- 
gated population be met? Only by a stand that was above national 
prejudice could we be united for the tremendous undertaking. The 
multiple loyalty enhances the quality of patriotism and raises it to 
the level of an international interest. 

Loyalty to a minority ethnic group, in addition to enriching the 
general culture, promotes the spiritualization of the individual's 
aims and purposes. It tends to make his outlook more universal, 
his perspective international, his approval to lie on the plane of intelli- 
gent conscious justification. He remains near to those intimacies 
of close family relationship which seem basic to a real human touch 
and understanding; but he must still maintain an open mind towards 
divergences. His sympathies remain deep while they are broadened. 
Understanding the keen and intense woes and joys that are possible 
when one lives in close proximity to those with whom one feels an 
emotional and almost sensuous consciousness of kind, the sympathies 
are broadened and extended to a reach of international scope, where 
the unities are broadly humane, and the kinship is on the plane of the 
intelligent. 

These are general values which arise out of a multiple allegiance. 
In addition, each particular group will contribute in accordance with 
its own gifts and culture. No association of men capable of social 
coherence and self-consciousness and tending to maintain its identity 
midst conditions which naturally would disintegrate them can be 
conceived of as being altogether without a culture. How much each 
group can contribute will depend upon the excellence of its cultural 
accomplishments. The whole range of contribution may extend 
from cooking recipes, quaint melodies and legends, through customs, 
conventions, folkways, to language, literature, ethics, social oraniza- 
tion and religion. To describe these even briefly for the Jewish 
group alone would require volumes and the work of many masters. 
In the following pages it is the intention not to attempt to evaluate 
Judaism or describe the Jewish heritage, but to present several ideas 
which will give some hint of the depth and meaning of Jewish life. 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 133 



The Hebrew Language and Literature 

Greek literature. Professor Woodbridge has pointed out, bears a 
unique relationship to Western philosophic notions. Greek thought 
is reflection upon experience spontaneous and original. Western 
philosophy is in great part a translation of the terms used to describe 
this experience. Between the original words and the translation a 
whole system of thought is often interpolated. Thus the unsophisti- 
cated T) ipxiQ (the beginning) of Greek literature, becomes the Latin 
'principium'and the English 'principles' with the implication that there 
are underlying principles at the beginning of things. The significance 
of this difference lies not alone in the fact that Greek literature must 
be read in the original to prevent a perversion of thought. Even 
more important, the original writings, since they describe experience 
significantly, must remain permanent sources of reflection and of 
intellectual life, while Western modes of philosophy, being translation, 
must become out of date as the current system of thought gives way. 

The Hebrew writings collected in the Bible bear a similar relation- 
ship to Western ethical and religious conceptions that Greek literature 
bears to the intellectual life. The Hebrew writings were literature 
before they became dogma. To read them in the original is sufficient 
to divest them of the conventional theology. The poet giving expres- 
sion to the prayer of his people in defeat cries, "Come and help us." 
The translation has it, "Come and save us." The one thought will 
remain a natural appeal as long as men are capable of conceiving 
themselves in distress; the second idea suggests a sense of unreality 
that causes the secularist to smile. The Prophets' fierce cry for justice, 
intense with social realism, loses its passionate force midst the theologic 
phraseology. There are also errors due to mistranslation^ in support 
of certain traditions as well as those that have crept in unconsciously 
as a result of the overshadowing conception. A knowledge of Hebrew 
furnishes the key to a natural understanding of Biblical literature 
and opens the gate to free interpretation. Hebrew, moreover, has 

^As in the translation, 'virgin,' where the text means simply 'young woman' and 
though there is a distinct word to signify virginity. See Skinner on Isaiah VII, Cam- 
bridge Series. 



134 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

the additional advantage that it is a living language and^the connota- 
tions of its concepts can be learned more directly and truly. Un- 
doubtedly, the meanings have undergone changes through the 
centuries of Jewish history. But the development has been gradual 
and continuous and changes of significance can be traced with no 
great difficulty, while in the case of the classic tongues an abrupt 
translation must be made in thought. If a considerable portion of 
our population could acquire a literary knowledge of Greek and Greek 
literature, it would undoubtedly lead to an enrichment of our cultural 
and aesthetic life. It can be of no less significance to further a knowl- 
edge of Hebrew and its literature. The loyalty to the Jewish group 
affords an unusual opportunity of obtaining an insight into one of 
the richest sources of the world's spiritual experience which has been 
particularly influential in the literature and in the mode of life of 
the English speaking peoples. 

The Jewish mind seems to have been keenly aware of the intimate 
relationship between its language and its thought life. Side by side 
with the Jewish struggle for perpetuation has gone an insistence upon 
the retention of Hebrew. With the national reawakening has come 
a renascence of Hebrew literature and a revival of Hebrew as a spoken 
tongue. But it is of significance to note that even in Yiddish, the 
colloquial tongue of Eastern European Jewry, which is based on a 
German of the fourteenth century, the ideas indicating important 
ethical and religious concepts are never translated but always retained 
in the original Hebrew. One does not speak of Religion, Glaube, Wohl- 
thdtigheit in Yiddish but of min ,nJ1DX ,npl')i, words which have different 
roots and connotations. To understand Yiddish it is necessary to know 
hundreds of Hebrew concepts. For one who does not know Hebrew, 
Yiddish is an excellent medium for the interpretation of Jewish life. 
Those who despise Yiddish as a jargon have really failed to grasp 
the significance of this mixture of languages. It was a successful 
compromise with the environment. For the masses who could not 
speak Hebrew the current tongue was, so to speak, converted to 
Judaism. 

The social significance of retaining Jewish concepts in the Hebrew 
can become clear through the description of the word niJOm 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 135 

(rahamonut, usually translated 'compassion') . In discussing the 
social instincts, Thorndike lays stress upon what he calls the instinct of 
'motherly behavior,' which he portrays in terms of stimulus and 
response as, "a living thing displaying hungry, frightened or pained be- 
havior, by wailing, clinging, holding out its arms and the like, provokes 
attention and discomfort, and may provoke acts of relief." (Educa- 
tional Psychology, Vol. I, p. 102). Of this instinct, the noted psycho- 
logist says elsewhere, "Modern philanthropy and the acceptance of 
the brotherhood of man as a living creed rests at bottom on this 
original tendency." Thorndike notes the inadequacy of the term, 
'motherly behavior,' to describe the instinct; it gives a false conno- 
tation for the instinct is present in various degrees in all human beings. 
In fact English has no good equivalent. The word 'pity' brings a 
sense of separation between subject and object; 'kindliness' and 'sym- 
pathy' lack the connotation of distress and the latter may be wholly 
intellectual or aesthetic; 'compassion' which comes closest is too classic 
and cold. It occurred to the writer that the Hebrew word niJDm 
conveyed in a remarkably true sense both the meaning and emotional 
quality, so well indeed that it carries the intent of the definition 
even better than does the description given above. It contains both 
the notion of distress and kinship in suffering. Mirabile dictu, the 
root of the word Dm (r eh era- womb) indicates the maternal and kin- 
ship relation which Thorndike's term aims to convey. The word 
also means to be tender and loving (r u h a m ah — Hosea, Chap. I) 
Furthermore, it has a central position in Jewish thought. God is 
D^m^K (elrahum — God compassionate) and Israel D''J»m "ija D''JOm 
(rahamonim b'ne rahamoni m — the compassionate, 
children of the compassionate). But most important of all is the 
relation of the word to Jewish psychology. The mere utterance of 
the word is sufficient to evoke a psychological, almost a physiological 
response. In speaking before a Jewish audience, it is a word to conjm-e 
with. As the American orator would use the word 'liberty' as a 
means of arousing emotion, the Jewish orator would make his appeal 
on the basis of niJDm. There is undoubtedly more than a chance 
connection between these various facts; the Jewish emphasis on the 
social attitude and the ethical tradition, the central position of the 



136 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

family and the conception of the Messianic age as a brotherhood, 
the conception of Israel and Israel's God as D^JDm together with the 
fact that for the instinct which lies at the basis of the social attitude 
the Hebrew has a remarkably good term. The word has become an 
institution and a motivating force in the life of the people. Translate 
it and you have dissipated energy. How much history would need 
to be lived again to make 'freedom' a word to rouse men with. Revo- 
lutions and civil wars would need to be fought and countless martyr- 
doms experienced. So n^JOm was created through centuries of 
travail. 

To read Hebrew means to understand the symbols of what the 
Jewish People has conceived to be its most significant experiences. 
It means, of course, more than to read words of a diflFerent force and 
connotation. To read another language means to read other matter 
as well as other meanings. Each people retains in its body of classic 
literature those writings which are especially appealing and in which 
it excels. All Hebrew literature is so permeated with religious and 
ethical thought that any modern writer of Hebrew, whether in agree- 
ment with or in revolt against the traditional conceptions, cannot help 
but make his writings reminiscent of the ideas which have been 
for ages in the foreground of the nation's mind. The Jews un- 
consciously realizing this have laid great stress upon the teaching of 
Hebrew even in the definitely religious schools, while little time or 
none is given to instruction in formal principles. This is keen insight 
into what is undoubtedly a fact: that thought is transmitted more 
surely through the indirect method of teaching literature than 
through the direct method of the catechism. Living in a foreign 
land, where social background and atmosphere are lacking and insti- 
tutions to a great extent are torn from their context, it is through the 
language and literature that we can most easily grasp the ideal life 
of a people. Individual speech reflects the person. Even more 
truly does the national language and literature reflect the soul of the 
nation; for only that which is harmonious with the people's ideal 
tends to survive. Institutions also must be considered expressions of 
the social idea. But they are more under the necessity of compromise 
and the idea is more easily lost in the performance. Words are more 



THE VAIiUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 137 

free and, therefore, reveal more truly the aspiration; they are less 
bound by the necessity of circumstances and by the responsibility 
of reckoning with actual life. In our own conception of a cultural 
loyalty, with the foreign political allegiance ruled out, the language 
and the literature must be the vital bond. In this connection it 
must be borne in mind that for the Jews the Bible is not the whole 
of the spiritual and literary heritage — rabbinic, mediaeval and modern 
Hebrew literature which has come with the national reawakening, 
continues the tradition to modern times. Though the later works 
have affected Western life but little, they are in themselves vast 
storehouses of thought and of great influence on Jewish life itself. 
To the Jew, furthermore, Hebrew is an international language 
which symbolizes Jewish unity and through which he can communicate 
with Jews all over the world. It links him not only with the Jewish 
past but with the Jewish present. Hebrew, a national possession, 
thus tends to break the barriers of time and to cross the boundaries 
of countries. It has in itself a means for transcending the purely 
national consciousness in the direction of the international and 
universal. 

VI 

Jewish History 

Jewish history traces its course from the very dawn of civilization. 
In it is reflected the human race's struggle for life and its ideal vision. 
The record is crowded with prophets, heroes and martyrs; with strife, 
defeat and triumph; with events, philosophies and wisdom. To 
know it is to have a liberal education; for not only is it itself full with 
the content and significance of life but into its current stream the 
histories of many nations. Jewish history may be seen as the result 
of the interaction of the people of Israel with various civilizations 
of the ancient and modern world. Chaldea, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, 
Greece, Rome, Spain, Russia, America; the Feudal system, the 
Church, the modern economic national organization and the struggle 
of democracy are bound up with the fortunes and the purposes of the 
Jewish People. The teaching of Jewish history easily becomes a 
pedagogical device for teaching the history of Western civilization. 



138 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

With SO much of the histories of nations in its own body Jewish 
history, nevertheless, presents a unique phenomenon — a striking 
individuahty. This small nation never really strong in numbers or 
physical resources, subjected to the disintegrating force of exile, 
has been able to maintain its cohesion long after powerful empires 
had crumbled, because it became convinced that its life represented an 
ideal, n-nnn ^'2^2 t6ii ^N1B>' D'pnj t6 Israel was not preserved except 
for the sake of the Torah — so says the teleologist who transmutes 
causes into purposes. It would be more true to say that Israel was 
not preserved except through the Torah. Consecration to an idea 
formed the bond of union when the territorial boundaries had been 
broken. 

There arises out of the survival of the Jewish people a profound 
conclusion, vital for moral progress: the exaltation of the power of 
the Idea as against the power of environmental circumstances. 
The prophet had forseen that strength lay ultimately not in Power 
nor in military strength, but in Spirit. All subsequent Jewish history 
bears witness to this conviction. The Jewish People has survived 
in spite of untoward environmental conditions because it became self- 
conscious of the meaning of its life. The consciousness of the unity 
in an ideal cutting across generations, countries and circumstances 
has made it possible to maintain the national existence. The will to 
live and faith in the purpose of his life has found justification in the 
Jewish Survival.^ 



^Perhaps such a statement of the spiritual cause for Jewish perpetuation may strike 
the sophisticated student of history as a little sentimental. But the simplicity of the 
fact stands out against the learned theories of great historians, Wellhausen ends his 
masterly essay on the history of Israel and Judah saying, "The persistency of the race 
may, of course, prove a harder thing to overcome than Spinoza has supposed; but, 
nevertheless, he will be found to have spoken truly in declaring that the so-called 
emancipation of the Jews must inevitably lead to the extinction of Judaism wherever 
the process is extended beyond the political to the social sphere. For the accomplish- 
ment of this, centm-ies may be required." Wellhausen is in all likelihood wrong; 
keenly aware of the threatening danger, the Jewish people is already readjusting itself 
to meet the changed environmental conditions through the rebuilding of Zion and new 
forms of adjustment to Western democracies. The cause of the error is in the method 
of judging Jewish history. Wellhausen sees it altogether as the result of environmental 
forces. Jewish history cannot be written without due consideration of the Jewish 
will to live. Jewish history must be seen not only as a resultant of environmental 
forces, but as a resultant of the interaction of the Jewish personality with the environ- 
mental forces. 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 139 

Opposed to this belief in the power of conscious will has arisen the 
idea that men are creatures of accident and environment, which finds 
aphoristic expression in the phrase, "Der Mensch ist was er isst." 
Experience with life has indeed shown us that hope and the will are 
not absolutely free. Mind is not independent of matter; hope and 
faith and will are not exercised in a vacuum. But Jewish history 
doggedly maintains the belief in the ultimate supremacy of the inner 
forces, and its own experience gives a justification to what might 
otherwise seem a groundless faith. In this sense the Jewish people is, 
indeed, a "witness unto the Lord." Will is the master of circum- 
stances, hope the guide of experience, and conscious purpose the con- 
queror of life. 

In the possible truth of this faith in man's aspirations lies the 
possibility of salvation for the world. It is through aspirations and 
ideas that mankind, midst racial, geographic and governmental 
diversities, can ultimately hope to become unified. The rational, 
not the accidental, must become the basis of community. In the 
advance of the world toward international organization hope must 
rest upon the confidence that common ideas will ultimately find their 
necessary institutional and environmental embodiments. Jewish 
history is a testimonial to the strength of will and purpose against 
accident and circumstance.^ In the face of every great ideal project 
for the betterment of human life, when the chorus of diplomatists, 
business men and priests of the established order cries, "Impractical," 
it continues with prophetic insight to give the answer — "If you will it, 
this is no fairy tale."^ 

This belief in the idea is synthesized with the recognition of the 
place that environmental circumstance has in life in the movement of 
Zionism. Never have the Jews as a people separated their hope 
for an ideal life from this world to the same extent as the Christian 
peoples have done. Even in moments of despair when tears and 
prayers were the only possible means, the ideal itself was associated 
with the land of Israel. Throughout the Exile they still continued 

^Of course, Jewish history is also a testimony to the barrenness of wish and hope 
without proper consideration of political and physical means. 

^Herzl's famous phrase in reference to the Restoration of Zion. See Norman Angell, 
in Menorah Journal, January, 1917. 



140 THEOKIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

to study the pN3 nvi?n T))\)tO (i.e.. Commandments depending upon 
Israel's tenm-e of Palestine) against the time when Israel would be 
restored to Zion. Even when hunger and oppression conjured up 
other-worldly visions, the Messianic hope did not become altogether 
dissociated from its terrestrial basis. Zionism insisting on a socially 
autonomous background guaranteed by the world's political and legal 
organization brings about a complete rapprochement between the two 
inseparable factors of moral progress, a humane ideal and adequate 
political conditions. 

VII 

The Jewish People — An Internation 

Just as Zionism may be seen as a synthesis of ideal aspiration and 
material considerations, so, too, it may be regarded as aiming for a 
harmony between nationalism and internationalism. In the Zionist 
ideal the majority of the Jews must remain outside of Palestine, and 
the Jewish nation is conceived of as an international community 
with a centre in Palestine. In the various lands of the diaspora 
adjustment to the political and social conditions of the land will be 
necessary. Palestine with its politically and socially autonomous life 
will act as a uniting bond between the various communities. On 
the other hand, through these various communities the influences 
of the whole world are to be brought to bear upon the development of 
the Palestinian centre. Unity is conceived in cultural, not political 
terms; and the implications of nationhood become international. 
In such a type of organization the desire for full expression of national 
culture becomes compatible with the conception of an economic 
internationalism. Truly seen, it becomes ultimately dependent 
upon internationalization of the economic basis of cultural life. 
When we think of the Jewish loyalty, we must bear in mind that the 
allegiance is not to a land exclusively, but to an International Com- 
munity of men whose interests include and are inextricably woven 
with the interests of many peoples and with the universal spread of 
liberal thought. One who is loyal to the Jewish People rightly con- 
ceived must become loyal to all the families on the earth among whom 
the Jews are scattered. 



THE VALUE OF ETHNIC GROUPS 141 

To this natural consequence of the form of its organization must 
be added the trend of its own thought. The Jewish ideal has long 
ceased to identify national greatness with territorial and political 
expansion . This is at the root of the confusion in understanding whether 
the Jews are a nation or a religious group. In form of organization 
they resemble a social community most like a nation. In aspiration 
they resemble the church, for their ideal is in the realm of the spiritual. 
The modern concept of nationality approaches most nearly a descrip- 
tion of the Jewish group. It hopes to express its individuality not 
in the exclusive possession of larger tracts of land or in the control 
of economic assets, but through its contributions in the realm of 
art, philosophy, religion. Its supremacy is hoped for in terms of 
service, not in terms of acquisition. The Jewish People desires 
freedom to live in accordance with Torah, believing profoundly that 
the acceptance of the sovereignty of Instruction and Law is full of 
significance for the rest of the world. 

Ultimately, as they think, it is the rule of Torah that can bring 
peace to the world. 

For from Zion shall go forth the Torah, 
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares. 
And their spears into pruning hooks. 

It is a loyalty to an international community with an aspiration of 
service to the world that the Jewish allegiance requires. The con- 
secration to the task of creating this new type of nationality or cul- 
tural internationality is a bold attempt in the face of the historic 
emphasis upon economic nationalism. It implies not only a devotion 
to the special task of the Restoration of Zion, but also a whole- 
hearted support to those political tendencies which look forward 
toward the organization of the world on an international basis. 
For to the Jew every war is a civil war, and every national loss a loss 
to his own people. It is a sickly humanitarianism, a romantic 
idealism in the end negative and destructive, which sees severance 
from the Jewish people as emancipation from exclusiveness. A 
realistic sound-hearted and clear-headed insight would imderstand 



142 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

that to break with the Jewish group means to destroy international 
ties and an international vision. 

To be born a Jew is an accident and signifies in itself nothing; 
but it may signify much, if the ideal implications of the fact are 
pursued and understood — ^if History is synthesized with Nature. 
It is an opportunity, just as to be born is an opportunity, to enter 
into an ideal life. To him who has the mind to grasp and the heart 
to be loyal it presents an added possibility of living the Life of Reason. 

Those who oppose a dual cultural allegiance are consistent if they 
hold that a highly charged nationalistic spirit is the necessity of the 
age and if they exalt patriotism in the exclusive sense to the position 
of the highest virtue. But they cannot oppose it on the grounds that 
it is narrowing. Its tendency is to broaden the vision, make more 
conscious the loyalty, and raise the national aspiration to service 
of international ideals. 

Once we look upon American nationality in terms of human service 
rather than selfish acquisition and agree that America's development 
of an international conscience is a good thing, then we cannot assume 
a laissez-faire attitude toward the question of the perpetuation of 
cultural divergences within the United States. The line of argument 
previous to this chapter at most defended the right of the sub-groups 
to maintain their cultural individuality. It did not propose that the 
State of its own initiative should further retention of ethnic loyalties. 
If, however, the analysis of this chapter carries conviction, it would 
be necessary to go a step further and say that it is the duty of the 
State to lend its aid and encouragement to the ethnic groups in their 
desire to maintain their spiritual heritage. What is the benefit if 
one tribalism is exchanged for another tribalism — if the exclusive 
Jew becomes the intolerant American? But if the necessity of ad- 
justment can lead to an international and moral outlook, then, 
indeed, can we say that we have advanced a whole stage in the 
development toward humanism which is the essence of Democracy. 



PART II 

V THE RELATION OF ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS 

SCHOOLS TO THE STATE 

VI THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 



THE RELATION OF ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS 
TO THE STATE 



CHAPTER V 

THE RELATION OF ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS 

TO THE STATE 



Sect and Ethnos 

The educational process alone is the instrumentality properly 
responsible in a democracy for maintaining the national identity of 
minority communities. Neither local segregation nor governmental 
separatism would allow the undisturbed interchange of social forces 
which democracy demands. On the other hand communal organiza- 
tion with the school as the centre would make it possible to continue 
the ethnic loyalty and to preserve the cultural and spiritual person- 
ality of the group without of necessity interfering with the free play 
of currents demanded by the imity of American life. 

The democratic ends which we are seeking would be defeated, 
however, if after agreeing to such a formal conclusion we should 
introduce a system of schools not in accord with democratic notions. 
Unless a principle manifests itself in concrete institutions, it really 
does not exist and formal adherence to it becomes meaningless. 
It will be necessary to know what is meant by the term 'school' in 
the plan of adjustment outlined. The remaining two chapters will 
accordingly be devoted to an analysis of the type of ethnic educational 
institution conceived to be proper for the school system of the minority 
group. The first and most important problem that will engage our 
attention is the question of the relation of the educational system of 
the ethnic group to the school system of the state. 

Here we find evidence of the close connection between ethnic 
and religious groups to which we have already had reference in our 
second chapter. In truth, it is artificial to treat the problems of 
religious and of ethnic education separately. The distinction be- 
tween the two types of groups is far from being absolute and the 
process of abstraction which differentiates the one from the other 

147 



148 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

serves to over-emphasize the differences and to obscure the similari- 
ties. As is indicated by the frequent insistence on the use of the 
national tongue, the parochial school has developed in many cases 
because it served to perpetuate primarily national distinctions.^ In 
fact, it is rather the truth that the main strength of parochial schools 
lay, at least in earlier times, in the circumstance that through them 
the foreign groups could preserve their nationality so closely bound up 
with their religion. On the other hand, when nationality is conceived 
in its cultural rather than political sense, the problem comes very 
close to what is considered generally a religious problem. 

Especially in dealing with the relationship of the Jewish community 
to the State would it be futile to separate the ethnic from the religious 
problem. Neither the term 'ethnic group' nor the term 'religious 
group' taken alone is either exact or adequate in describing the nature 
of the Jewish group, nor would the two used together serve to cover 
the case. The terms obtained by translating these words into Hebrew 
could not be naturally used in Hebrew to describe the Jewish group. 
"Am Yisroel," the People of Israel, and "Kenesseth Yisroel," the 
Community of Israel, are the Hebrew phrases. While in the one case 
there is more of a national ring and in the other more of a religious 
connotation, the terms are not so sharply marked off and defined. 
To treat our people as simply ethnic or religious would veer the 
discussion into those conventional artificialities and false emphases 
which should be avoided and amount to a partial if not total begging 
of the question. Furthermore, by dealing with the two types of 
groups together, we may make explicit what is most important for 
our discussion. We are dealing with minority communities bound by 
common tradition. The fundamental matter to be borne in mind is 
that communities of men are involved. By treating the problem as 
one of 'religious education' a connotation of Bible Study and Cate- 
chism is conjured up, and the halo of literary and spiritual study is 
cast about what is in reality a question of the perpetuation of an 
association of men. On the other hand, the discussion of the 'na- 
tional group' immediately rouses an apprehension of the intrusion 
of a foreign government, when only the question of an association of 

»George V. Wenner, "Lutheran Parochial Sdiool," Religvms Education, April, 1916. 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 149 

men for cultural and idealistic purposes is involved. The matter 
which really concerns us is not the correctness of a dogma or the valid- 
ity of a double political allegiance, but the perpetuation of a com- 
munity existing for the pursuit of what they believe to be idealistic 
and cultural ends. 

In both church and ethnic society the community is bound together 
primarily because of common traditions, customs and beliefs. The 
unity is what would be termed a spiritual one. Physical forces may 
have played upon the group in the past to make it a group and 
to create the common cultural heritage; and some measiu-e of 
physical contiguity is necessary to-day to make the community in 
psychic bonds possible. But it is an ideational product, the result 
of having lived together, summed up in the term 'religion' in the one 
case, and in the term 'cultm-e' in the other, which has now become the 
most important factor in maintaining the identity of the community. 
Left to the play of the present merely environmental forces it would 
disintegrate. The unity of the group, whether it be ethnic or 
religious, is dependent upon its ability to remember its socially ac- 
quired characteristics, upon the memory of its history and culture, 
upon the process of education. 

The ideas, customs and ceremonies to-day known as religious are 
really the cultural expressions of definite communities of men now 
crystallized into dogma, codes, and ritual. What we call religion 
was, in the period when it was created, very much what we should 
call national culture to-day : the striving of a particular social group 
to transcend the limits of its own body of experience, and 
pursue ends humane, imiversal and eternal. Thus Judaism, Hellen- 
ism and Taoism are as much national cultures as they are religion. 
It is rather a difference of Zeitgeist which makes the social aspiration 
of former ages express itself in the mystic terms of God and Salvation, 
and that of modern nations in the worship of Progress and Happiness. 
The differences are less real than external, more of logic and sociology 
than of psychological instinct and of human aspiration. Catholicism 
cannot be rightly imderstood except in terms of the spiritual expres- 
sion of Southern Europe, just as Protestantism is an aspect of the 



150 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

North European national strivings. When these social expressions 
become transplanted into an environment which does not provide 
the proper social milieu, they become formalized and tend to assume 
the character of a body of principles or doctrines very often unrelated 
to life. Then we are sure that they are 'religion'. But in reality, if 
a religion is to remain vital, it must have its own social background. 
So, too, a people transplanted must give up its government incidental 
to its primary and intrinsic character as a community of social beings, 
and it then tends to identify its life with certain principles for which it 
stands. But as in the case of the religious heritage, the principles 
must remain meaningless without a social background. What is 
significant is that in both cases a spiritual product of a former social 
life now becomes the raison d'etre of continuing the society. 

The discussion, then, relates to such groups as the ethnic and 
religious, which as their distinguishing characteristics possess idea- 
tional (religious or cultural) heritages developed under other than the 
present geographical and natiu'al conditions. As a matter of fact 
the whole question has, in the past, generally been thought of in 
religious terms even when an ethnic problem was involved. So that 
criticism of any existing mode of adjustment would be mainly a 
criticism of the religious school. 

It can hardly be said that we have reached a satisfactory solution 
in the present adjustment. Although the country as a whole has 
accepted the state schools, the Catholics have never consented to 
the present arrangement and protest against being forced to support 
schools to which they do not send their children. On the other 
hand, many look askance at the very existence of parochial schools 
and urge their total suppression by the State, as has been done in 
France. In addition, several new conditions warrant a fresh dis- 
cussion of the question. To the problem of religious minorities has 
been added our own problem of ethnic minorities, made crucial by 
the large immigration since 1881 of nationalities somewhat further 
removed from the Anglo-Saxon American stocks than were the races 
brought by earliest tides of immigration, and emphasized also by the 
concurrent development of the idea of cultural nationality. Especi- 
ally is this important since such a large proportion of the recent 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 151 

immigrants are Jews to whom religious and national identity are quite 
indistinguishable, for their nationality is religious and their religion 
national. The Jewish group is undoubtedly'' an important factor in 
bringing to the fore the question of religious and ethnic education.^ 

In the second place, an awakened interest in religious matters seems 
to be astir. A rationalistic and scientific impatience with the fantas- 
tic methods of religion, prayer, ceremonialism and dogmatism has 
obscured somewhat the ends which religion sought to attain, ends 
which had to do with enlarging the human vision, with the setting up 
of ideals of service, with great humane purposes. A new psychology 
of religion is giving back to religion some place in the economy of 
human life, though this place and its proportion may be greatly 
changed. Furthermore, the emphasis that has in recent years been 
placed upon the social nature of religion is leading to the realization 
that the present mechanical methods in religious schools are wholly 
inadequate for the development of a religious consciousness. 

The recent excitement, especially on the part of Protestants^ and 
Jewish reform ministers,^ hailing the Gary scheme as a solution for 
the problem of correlation of religious and public education, is indica- 
tive of the tacit dissatisfaction with the present situation. The 
interest of Protestant bodies in the development of week-day religious 
instruction is evidence of the growing disapproval of the formality of 
the Sunday school. Among the Jews a wide experiment in religious 
education is being carried on. The scheme ranges from methods of 
extension education through celebration of festivals, club work and 
literature, to the intensive work of the parochial schools. Though 
the Jews on the whole do not favor parochial schools (over 99 per 
cent send their children to the public schools) the parochial school 
movement has recently received some impetus in the general increase 
of interest in religious education and in dissatisfaction with the 

'It is interesting to note that of all immigrant groups the Jews have been the leaders 
in active Americanization work and even anticipated the public schools in reckoning 
with the problem (as in the Educational Alliance). The term 'Melting Pot' is the 
creation of a Jewish writer, and the 'Federation of Nationalities' theory has been 
developed by a Jewish thinker. 

'Religious Education, February, 1916. 

^System of Religious Education in Secular Schools, Year Book of the Central Conference 
of American Rabbis, 1916. 



152 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

present situation. The variety of schools includes also those which 
are purely secular in character or nearly so and which present the 
antithesis to the denationalized 'purely religious' Sunday school. 
Most interesting in this connection is the recent action of the ' Arbeiter 
Ring' in introducing Yiddish and Hebrew into their schools. This 
strong, radical organization, consisting of over 100,000 Jewish work- 
ingmen, with their own organ, Die Arbeiter-Stimme, until now has 
conducted Sunday schools for the spread of socialist ideas, and con- 
sistently opposed giving their children any Jewish instruction, relig- 
ious or national. In addition, the discussion in many circles of the 
possibility of having Yiddish and Hebrew introduced into the public 
school as culture languages is indicative of the unsatisfied need felt 
for the retention of foreign ethnic cultures. This newly awakened 
interest, giving rise to variety of ideas and types of solution, makes 
especially imperative a careful consideration of the fundamental 
principles involved. 

There are three modes of organization possible: (1) The paro- 
chial school, which displaces the public school. (2) The inclusion of 
particularistic teaching in the curriculum of the public school. 
(3) A system of schools conducted by the group and complementary 
to public school instruction. Which of these three general schemes 
satisfies in the greatest degree the needs of the ethnic group and at 
the same time is harmonious with the criteria of democracy which we 
have in mind? 

II 

The Parochial School 

The first question, that of the Parochial School, has received the 
most complete development among the Catholics, and for this reason 
our discussion will deal especially with the position maintained in this 
denomination.^ The Catholics have (1) consistently maintained that 

^The following three books will be found valuable as indicating the attitude toward 
religious education by the three denominations. Catholic, Protestant, and Jew: C. S. 
C. Burns, The Condition of Catholic Education in the United States (also other works 
by the same author); A. S. Atheam, Religious Edttcaiion and American Democracy: 
A. M. Dushkin, Jevrish Education in New York City. 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 153 

the state schools do not serve their needs and that only the parochial 
school is adequate and (2) generally held that parents who send 
their children to parochial schools should be exempted from taxation 
for the support of public schools. Their arguments may be summed 
up as follows: 

The Rights Argument.^ To the parents belongs the 'right' by 
nature and by divine authority to choose freely under what system 
the child shall be educated. The state, interfering with this right, 
either by suppressing parochial schools or by putting an additional 
burden upon those parents who send their children to the parochial 
schools, or by the unjust competition of providing free schools, is 
transgressing its own function, which is to regulate competition, 
not itself to compete; to protect the rights of individuals, not to 
interfere with them; and to step in when the parent fails to do his 
duty, not to abrogate the parental duties. The education given by 
the state inculcates ideas inconsistent with the beliefs of the parent 
and thus makes a breach between the child and the parent. Especi- 
ally when a parent believes that the inculcation of his doctrine is 
necessary for securing the eternal life of the child does it appear 
heinous to compel the child to attend state schools; for the state 
will in such a case be robbing the child of his eternal life, a tyranny 
worse than arbitrarily convicting him to death. 

The Pedagogical Argument.- (a) Religion is as large as the whole 
of life. It does not consist merely of the memorization of creed or 
the mechanical performance of ceremonies. It must pervade all 
action and all thought. Therefore, the whole education of the child 
must be permeated by its influence, the methods of teaching must 
exemplify the religious outlook. The religious principles must be 

'Pierre Binaut, Les droits et les devoirs de I'etat en matiire d'enseignment. Monsignor 
P. R. McDevitt, "The State and Education," Bulletin of the Catholic Education Associa- 
tion, February, 1916. John F. Fenelon, in The State Catholic Education Association 
Bulletin, November, 1916. Rev. T. Bouquillon, Education, to Whom does it Belong? 
1892. Rev. R. I. Holland, Tht Parent First, 1892. Rev. S. G. Conway, The State 
Last. 1892. 

^Pierre Binaut, Les droits et les devoirs de V Stat en matiere d'enseignment. C. S. C. 
Bums, The Conditions of Catholic Education in the United States, 1917 (and other works 
by the same author). Shields, T. E., "Relation Between Catholic School Systems 
and the State," Catholic Education Bulletin, November, 1916. 



154 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

made manifest in every detail of the life of the school if they are to 
become active and significant. 

(b) The public schools cannot maintain a neutral attitude. Even 
refraining from religious instruction is an attitude. The relative 
emphasis on subjects and the interpretation of them develop an atti- 
tude in the pupil's mind, a point of view quite comparable with a 
religious point of view. The teacher, too, having a mind, cannot be 
neutral and, even when he avoids favoring any one of the conflicting 
sects openly, his work and influence are bound to be unconsciously 
colored by his religious attitude. The monopoly of education held 
by the state thus leads to indoctrination of the state's point of view. 

(c) The public school cannot teach religion. The parochial school 
can teach citizenship. Therefore, since education can be complete 
only if it is a unitary process, the parochial school should be favored. 

The argument advanced concerning the conflicting rights of parent 
and state would be more convincing in the light of laissez-faire 
politics. In this system of thought the state comes in to restrain 
one individual, who appears as a complete entity with definite and 
fixed rights, when he interferes with the equally definite and fixed 
rights of another individual; or to judge between them when two 
individuals disagree; or to fulfill the duties of the individual when 
he neglects to perform them. In such a theory, with its weighing 
of right against right, the presupposition must be that rights are 
stable and unchangeable; else how could they be measured? In 
the particular application to the right to educate, in accordalice with 
the argument, it is nature and authority that have standardized 
values. 

All that one can mean, however, by maintaining that nature gives 
the right, is that because by original nature the parent tends in a 
variety of ways to take care of its offspring the parent should be 
the one to decide what the education of the child should be under the 
conditions of civilized society. But origin alone cannot be considered 
as a sanction. All civilized society exists because original nature does 
not satisfy the conditions of humane Hving; original nature must be 
modified so as to permit the harmony of a rational life. The antith- 
esis 'natural-artificial' obscures the truth that the latter develop- 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 155 

ment also becomes natural. The true antithesis would be original 
and subsequent nature.^ 

Sanction in a democratic conception comes from serviceableness. 
Authority and origin are sanctions only in so far as they give a hint 
of usefulness for the present situation. One has a right to follow a 
certain course, when after consideration of as many as possible 
relevant elements it seems to be the right course to take. The ques- 
tion of relevancy involves immediately our basic democratic principle. 
In the whole argument the contestants appear to be the parent 
and the state, while the individual mostly concerned, the child to be 
educated, is left altogether out of consideration. Perhaps the 
profoundest element in democracy is the consideration that it urges 
must be given to the matter involved, especially if it be a person.^ 
The object most closely aflFected must be the centre from which 
radiate all considerations and all reckonings. Even when they 
reach far out from the immediate individual to more distant relation- 
ships, they must never lose this primarily important orientation. 

But, as already implied, the whole conception of the relation of the 
individual to society involved in these arguments is itself faulty. 
The implication is that the individuals in society are fairly complete 
and separate entities; that they interfere with each other only on 
occasion; and that these interferences, when they do occur, are always 
overt, so that the state may take cognizance and step in. The truth is 
that individuals living together in society are never such independent 
entities. They are always interfering with each other, always helping 
or hindering, always influencing each other, actually and potentially. 
As long as men are in communication, they are already reacting one 
to another, interference being far more subtle than the laissez-faire 
theories would imply. Even the laissez-faire principle that the state 
comes in when individuals interfere with one another, would make 
the state's function continuous and not spasmodic, were the true 
nature of the richness of relationship of individual to society fully 
realized. Not each individual with his separate rights is the reality. 



^Thorndike, Educational Psychology, Vol. I, page 293; Santayana, Life of Reason, 
Vol. I, page 276; Dewey, Democracy and Edtication, Chapter IV, page 331. 
•See Chapter I. 



156 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

Such an individual is an abstraction; but the very living process of 
interaction in which the 'individual' and 'society' are abstract terms 
is what actually exists. The state, therefore, is a function of the inter- 
dependence of human beings in communication, not a means for 
maintaining independence in an exclusive and separatist sense. 

The state's fimction to educate is a positive one. It does not rise 
from the need to step in at times in loco parentis. Education exists 
to make explicit the significances of communication, to maintain inter- 
dependence, and to preserve its results in culture, in the arts and in the 
spiritual life} It arises not because men are independent of each 
other — the words interdependence and communication are but pale 
shadows of the complexity and dynamic quality of the relation of men 
to men — ^but because they are completely interdependent. 

Those living under one state affect each other, and a common 
educational system serves in the measure that it is eflicient to further 
the benefits of the community it represents and to preserve and make 
more fruitful this interdependence. Such an educational system must 
in a democratic community reckon with, represent and express the 
variety of forces in the community and must be conducted by the 
community as a whole, not by any part of it. A failure on the part 
of the state to reckon with the groups it deals with or a failure on the 
part of one group to recognize the interdependence of all the groups 
in the state is alike undemocratic. In so far as the common schools do 
not represent the broad interests of the country as a whole they may 
be objectionable; but they cannot be opposed on the ground that 
they do not represent the interests of one group. For the very 
function of the educational system of the state rises from the fact 
that all within the state are in communication; they are members 
of one community. 

The notion of right involved in the first argument harks back to a 
conception of politics untenable to-day and violates the fundamental 

'The idea that education is a function of men in communication (both in the temporal 
and social sense), that it is a necessity of conmiunity (see how Mac Iver uses this 
word in his work "Community") seems to be fimdamental and rich in possible impli- 
cations. Bouquillon, a Catholic writer, in a pamphlet entitled "Education, to Whom 
does it Belong?" foreshadowed this idea in the answer, "to every association." A 
more direct treatment is to be found in Dewey, Democracy and Education, Chap. I 
and II. 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 157 

principles of democratic thought. It rests upon authority for its sanc- 
tion. It conceives of the problem from the point of view of the parent 
and the church and not from that of the child who is most intimately 
concerned. It fails to reckon in full measure with the responsibilities 
implied in the actual multiplicity of dependences upon which the 
nature and the good of the individual rest. This legalistic argument, 
which we have captioned the 'rights argument,' was the vogue in 
the parochial school controversies of the '90s, and is still used by some 
French writers of to-day. Among the present American defenders 
of the parochial school it has been superseded by the more utilitarian 
'pedagogical argument.' 

Pedagogical science will agree with the contention that the inculca- 
tion of formal principles is ineffective and that if these are to become 
active forces in living activities the reactions desired must be taught 
through actual situations. The atmosphere of the school and the 
example of the teacher in the daily life of the child are more potent 
than the precepts of a few hours a week. Especially in such a matter 
as religion which one could argue is a "completion, unification and 
organization of all life's experiences,"^ must the influence pervade 
all action. 

If the community in which the child lives were to consist only of 
Catholics such a contention would be correct in its practical conclusion 
as it is in its assumption of the pedagogical fact. But the point is 
just this, that the child who is to live in a community with non- 
Catholics ought to have his education in connection with a repre- 
sentative community; otherwise what guarantee is there that the 
reactions will function in the wider community? To teach faith, 
hope and charity towards Catholics in a Catholic environment does 
not insure practicing these virtues toward non-Catholics. Christian 
charity has often meant charity to Christians and intolerance of others. 
The argument that religion must be connected with life, then, in 
reality is an argument against the parochial school, for the life which 
the American must live is wider than the parochial school. 

Further, it is possible to understand when religion is defined as a 
completion, unification and organization of one's experience why 

^Coe, The Psychology of Religion, Chap. VI. 



158 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

one's religion should pervade one's whole life. But that is quite a 
diflPerent thing from saying that one's church should pervade one's 
whole life. For the church is only one source of that religious experi- 
ence which is described in the psychological definition of the term.^ 
The church may embody in its history, creed and ceremonies the 
religious experiences of some group or some individual; but each 
man's religion, if he has any, is one individual experience and, if it is 
true and applicable to all his life, must be derived from all of his 
life, not alone from limited associations. Though the teachings of a 
great church with a long history be taken as valuable or even inval- 
uable guides in life and though they have in a sense a relatively eternal 
and universal value, the democratic conception would never admit 
that truth has ever been completed or that it is anything but relative 
to the situation in which one is now placed. Not only must the 
religion be applied to a life which is most justly representative of the 
situation (and not to any parochial community), but the religion, too, 
which is to be applied to life, must itself be an expression and repre- 
sentation of the broader life. To assume the absoluteness, infallibil- 
ity and completeness of the teachings of any church is itself contrary 
to the democratic notions that life's truths learned from life's experi- 
ences are subject to referendum and recall by life's experiences. The 
actual conditions, natural and social, under which the members of 
a modern democratic community, which is radically and religiously 
heterogeneous, live would make the pedagogical argument specious. 
The public schools are really more representative of the activities and 
ideals of the community in which the citizens must live than is the 
parochial school. 

To the second charge of the pedagogical argument that the 
public schools cannot maintain an attitude of neutrality and that 
their teaching is disruptive of the church and parental authority, 
the public schools must plead guilty. They are certainly develop- 
ing habits of reaction to situations. They are certainly building 
up the minds of the pupils. To deny this would be equal to 
saying that they were having no effect upon their pupils. But 
this is just what they should do. As long as the community con- 

^Royce, Sources of Rdigioug Insight. 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 159 

tains a variety of forces, all of these must be permitted to play 
upon the child. Otherwise the child is subjected to a process which 
amounts to indoctrination; his horizon would be limited by a pre- 
arranged and delimited and delimiting education, that is, by an 
education parochial in outlook as it is in name. An opposite danger 
is pointed out in the disintegrating influence of conflicting teaching 
which leads to many a tragedy in the disruption of the family. But 
if this conflict is really representative of an actual and current conflict 
between the church and the state, is it not necessary for the child 
to go through it.? 

The harshness of the conflict, in a sense unavoidable, could never- 
theless be mitigated if the state schools, in democratic fashion, took 
into consideration the social life of their pupils and adjusted them- 
selves in some measure to it. On the other hand, the forces represent- 
ing the family community must also be modified. It is the stand-pat 
and therefore undemocratic attitude of both institutions which is the 
cause of the deplorable rending of social ties. Whatever scheme of 
education is finally favored must face frankly this important problem 
of maintaining the integrity of family life central to social stability 
and to the nation's welfare. 

The foregoing discussion based on the Catholic position applies 
in the main also to the Jewish situation. But the organization and 
theory of the Jewish parochial school present important differences 
which affect the emphasis of the argument. In the first place the 
parochial school is the exceptional thing among the Jews, not the 
typical educational institution. As noted above, only a fraction of 
one per cent of the Jewish children attend parochial schools. From 
a practical point of view, therefore, the Jewish parochial school 
presents no crucial problem. Furthermore, the Jewish parochial 
schools are subject to lay control. They are communal, not clerical 
institutions, each managed by a separate board of trustees just as any 
hospital or recreational center might be. The teachers and principal 
generally are laymen, not rabbis; and the secular subjects are taught 
by teachers who have been trained in the public school system and 
have had experience in teaching in the public schools. 



160 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

The Jewish schools diflFer from the CathoUc schools in theory as well 
as in organization. The latter are apprehensive of a heretical 
doctrine and aim to safeguard their pupils from disrupting external 
influences. The Jewish defense rests on the following two conten- 
tions: (1) That the amount of time taken by the public school leaves 
no room for an adequate Jewish education. (2) That the teaching 
of the secular and the Jewish subjects under one roof by teachers who 
understand both Jewish and American life will avoid the conflict 
between "ultra oriental Judaism and ultra occidental Americanism" 
and the resulting tragedy of the disintegragion of homes.^ 

These differences of organization and underlying principles no 
doubt lessen the danger of divergence from the general ideas of the 
community. On the other hand, it should be realized that the 
differences between the Catholic and Jewish argument are not quite 
so wide as they may appear from the bald statement. Since the Jews 
have no centralized church and recognize no clerical authority, these 
schools could not be under other but lay control. The utilization of 
public school teachers for instruction in secular subjects is a makeshift 
made necessary by inability to procure any other type of teacher 
qualified to teach the secular branches. As a matter of fact a high 
school and a Talmudical academy are being developed at present with 
the aim of producing teachers who can teach both the secular and 
Hebrew subjects. The modem spirit, though not excommunicated, 
is rather tolerated than welcomed. Science, music, drawing, etc., 
are just permitted to enter and the pupils do not receive adequate 
instruction in these studies. Vocational subjects and the manual 
arts are neglected. An obscurantist spirit prevails. Until recently 
books in modern Hebrew were taboo and to read them was considered 
sacrilege. Even to-day the teachers are troubled and are at a loss 
to know what to do when a youngster puts the time-worn question 
concerning the validity of the Biblical or the scientific account of 
creation. Whatever is modern and scientific enters only perforce. 

The main difficulty, however, lies in the fact that the Jewish paro- 
chial school, like the Catholic system, segregates the children along 

IS. T. H. Hurwitz, "The Jewish Parochial School" The Jevnsh Teacher, December, 
1917. 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 161 

lines of creed. The essential point of having the various elements of 
the population, during the formative period of childhood, associate 
with their neighbors with whom they are destined to live together as 
American citizens remains unfulfilled. No teaching of the common 
branches in the classroom can take the place of actual personal 
commingling as an educational force. Bound as these children are to 
come in contact with each other and to work together in later life, 
their separation from each other in school days is poor preparation 
for the cooperation and tolerance essential to a democracy. Though 
the perpetuation of significant elements of the culture of ethnic 
groups is permissible under, and really a purpose of democracy, 
segregation along any lines of either creed or race is thoroughly 
undemocratic. 

This main objection stands, also, against those who favor parochial 
schools upon a cultural, not a religious basis. The proponents of the 
'Federation of Nationalities' theory, which was discussed in the pre- 
ceding chapter, imply separate ethnic schools. Among these are to 
be reckoned also the Yiddish-Nationalists who favor the perpetua- 
tion of Jewish life through the means of Yiddish culture. This 
group conducts a number of complementary week-day schools at 
present, but looks forward to a separate school system supplanting 
the public schools. No argument of clericalism or obscurantism can 
be levelled against the Yiddish-Nationalists. It must be admitted 
that their standpoint is modem and that they base their contention 
on modern sociological conceptions. Though intense nationalists, 
their idea of nationality is in accord with the most enhghtened cul- 
tural notions regarding the nation as existing by the sanction of its 
will to service in the development of literature, art and the ideal 
life, not by the right of the will to power. 

These protagonists of the separate ethnic schools point out that the 
environment, the street, the press, politics, the vocation, the theatre, 
literature and art will of necessity impress upon the individual living 
here the culture of the land. No one can avoid learning the language 
and culture of the country even if he should endeavor to do so. It 
is the foreign ethnic culture having no natural or social background 
which is in danger of being lost and which can be saved only through 



162 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

the greatest effort. With the hypothesis that the nature of the indi- 
vidual is determined mainly by his ancestral endowment, which is the 
basic underlying conception of these thinkers, it is only through 
the preservation of the ethnic culture that the individual can attain 
his full and free self-development and contribute his best to the 
nation as a whole. Welcoming rather than apprehending segregation 
along ethnic lines, because they believe all culture and the higher 
life to be the fulfillment of ethnic strivings, they do not fear the pos- 
sible disruptive influence of ethnic segregation, maintaining that the 
geographic, economic and political unities will enforce cooperation 
and mutual toleration. Furthermore, the unique ethnic contribution 
enriching the life of the nation is of such great value that it will more 
than justify the organization along ethnic lines. 

SuflBcient has been said in the previous chapter to show that the 
general tendency of the evidence is against the assumption that race 
in the ethnic sense is the paramount force in the life of the individual. 
To create an institution which would tend to divide the country along 
the lines of assumed racial distinctions would be to perpetuate in an 
artificial manner differences which may have no natural basis in 
heredity. Such a process would fall under the category of those 
artificial social arrangements which protect an artificial assumption 
rather than liberate inherent capacities. In the end it would amount, 
as far as most individuals are concerned, to a process of indoctrination 
and to an undue exaltation of the place of the ethnic culture. It is an 
essential American doctrine that citizenship, not lineage, makes one 
heir to the culture of America. 

There is another very important, perhaps obvious though elusive 
element involved in the situation revolving about the question of 
allegiance. The reference is not to the external matters of political 
and civic allegiance. No one can seriously question the loyalty of 
those who have received a parochial education. There is no evidence 
which goes to show that the graduates of parochial schools fall short 
of the duties and responsibilities involved in citizenship. The attempt 
to cast doubt of loyalty in these matters succeeds only in obscuring 
the real issue. It is a psychological aloofness rather than a political 
defection which is to be apprehended; a type of disloyalty, if that 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 163 

is not too strong a word, which will affect possible contribution 
rather than reveal itself in overt wrongdoing. 

The school system of a nation exists ultimately for ideal purposes; 
to clarify its vision, to reveal its soul, to sanctify the sons of the people 
for the pursuit of the ideal things inherent in the life of the nation. 
If the school is conducted by the ethnic group and the child is taught 
by teachers representative of the group culture, while the American 
ideal is either picked up casually or interpreted by foreign teachers, 
it will be natural for the allegiance of the pupils, in the sense of a 
spiritual devotion, to be given rather to the ethnic group. For it is 
in the ethnic school that the pupil will find the clear consciousness of 
an ideal and the finest personalities. He may still fulfill all the legal 
obligations and sincerely pledge his allegiance to the flag of his 
country; but his moral wholehearted devotion will tend to be in- 
spired toward the promotion of the ethnic culture. A separate 
school system for the ethnic group may involve a loss of positive 
spiritual allegiance to the society represented by the geographic 
community. 

The parochial school neither in its Catholic, Jewish nor national 
form would seem to fulfill the demands of the democratic idea that 
the school system must be representative of the community at large; 
that to organize it along the lines of one sect or ethnos would tend to 
segregation and indoctrination. Should all children, then, be com- 
pelled to attend public schools, since these further the public good, 
and, as is done in France, all parochial education suppressed? Indeed, 
if those who send their children to parochial schools would avow their 
indifference to the public weal such a procedure might seem justifiable. 
But, in reality, the supporters of the parochial schools insist that it is 
the welfare of society which they have at heart. They, therefore, 
appear as a minority diverging from the opinion of the majority. 

Here may be utilized the principle formulated in our first chapter 
with reference to the suppression of minority opinion and activities. 
The idea set forth there is that objective demonstration of the evil 
of an activity is necessary before it may forcibly be suppressed. 
Objectivity of proof of evil is the sanction of suppression. In the 
degree that in any case objectivity of proof is possible and care is 



164 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

taken to determine actual evil results, in that degree can it be said 
that democracy prevails in any situation. 

Now it would be difficult to prove that the graduates of parochial 
schools are appreciably inferior to other pupils or that parochial 
schools are a menace to the social order. If it does happen that cer- 
tain schools do not measure up to the objectively accepted standard 
in certain particulars, whether it be in instruction in English or in 
scientific subjects, the state may demand improvement in these 
subjects. But beyond that the state may not go. It dare not 
suppress institutions which do not obviously endanger the public 
welfare. If the opinion offered above, that parochial education is 
not proper in a democracy, has a rational basis, it must ultimately 
have its effect without resorting to force. There is nothing so disinte- 
grating to an unjust established system as an opposing idea founded <hi 
change of social conditions. When the danger is crucial, it may not 
be practical or possible to wait for the slow-working influence of 
theoretical discussion. But when the menace is not immediate or 
obvious, nothing can be said against such a policy. No social or 
educational institution is so perfectly sealed that it can prevent the 
forces of the environment from ultimately disintegrating it, if it 
does not come to serve real human needs. 

The strength of the parochial school in all likelihood indicates 
that it satisfies a justifiable demand not provided for by the public 
school system. No doubt much of its strength is artificial — upheld 
by the threat of clerical punishment or by the pubUc opinion of the 
social group. But it is highly questionable whether it could maintain 
itself if it did not have something to contribute. For one thing, 
the parochial schools stand as a protest against the exclusion of all 
religious teaching from our scheme of education, which implies a 
monopoly of the right to educate on the part of the state. If a monop- 
oly of education by the church is no solution, neither is a monopoly 
on the part of the state equitable. It may be shown that the state 
really cannot have a monopoly of education, for general social contact 
and literature are permeating educational influences. But the same 
can be said also in reference to the parochial school, the term monopoly 
being used relatively and particularly of the school system. It may 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 165 

be argued that the state in a democracy Hke ours is more Hkely to 
be democratic and that its schools are more representative of the 
common interests of the country as a whole, that its ideas of education 
are more responsive to the demands that the life of the environment 
makes upon us than a system bound by a historical and parochial 
tradition. If we must choose, it is said, let us choose the more 
democratic monopoly and the danger of indoctrination will be 
mitigated. But that a great danger does lurk in indoctrination by 
the state cannot be gainsaid. The state is still mainly an economic 
organization, though it no doubt has its cultural and spiritual aspect. 
Its strength, however, has come because it has given adequate empha- 
sis to the physical and economic bases of life and has recognized the 
supreme superiority of machinery as against magic in the accomplish- 
ment of ends. This emphasis, however, has had its counterpart in a 
materialism which, fixing its attention upon economic and political 
factors, has exalted these into ends. Professor Dewey quotes some- 
one as saying that as a result of modern economic and political 
organization one sinner can with a machine make more bricks in one 
hour than a saint could previously make in a whole day with his 
hands. But one might retort that that is just the trouble, and we 
wonder what the sinner is going to do with the bricks. The education 
of the parochial school may present obstacles to a perfect harmoniza- 
tion of the heterogeneous elements within the state. It may even be 
quite ineffective, filling the mind with other-woridly visions and with 
the fantastic methods of sacrifice and prayer dubious in their potency 
for actually reconstructing the world. But the indoctrination by the 
state may lead to attention upon economic and physical forces 
which taken together with an anti-social point of view may be disas- 
trous. 

Undoubtedly the presence of the parochial school is an indication 
of the unsatisfactory state of adjustment between public and other 
education. To solve our problem it will not be sufficient to suppress 
the parochial schools, which are the results of a maladjustment and 
not the root of the evil. It will be necessary to provide for the ele- 
ment in the demand which the parochial school comes to serve that 
has a rational support. That done, the better cause is bound to win 



166 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

in an environment where the interchange of social forces is as sure as 
it is in this country. 

On the other hand, those who claim that the state ought to contrib- 
ute to the support of parochial schools cannot receive justification 
in accordance with the foregoing analysis, that education is a function 
of the state community, not alone a parental duty. The taxation 
which supports the public schools is not a sort of charge (as a private 
firm might make) to the members of the state for services rendered 
to these particular members. It is a means of supporting an institu- 
tion which safeguards that ideational community which is the 
necessity of and ultimately the most significant thing in the govern- 
mental unity. The wealth of individual citizens is possible only 
because the community provides the conditions and protects the 
rights necessary for its acquisition. Wealth is really communal 
in its nature and even when entrusted to the 'care' of individuals 
a part of it must go back to support the institutions which 
make wealth possible and give it significance. The parent is 
taxed not because he is a parent, but because he is a citizen, as is 
evidenced by the fact that all citizens whether they have children of 
school age or not are taxed in equal measure. The parent who sends 
his children to a parochial school has no more right to a rebate than 
has a bachelor. Citizenship and not parenthood is what involves 
the responsibility of maintaining schools. Minorities who diflfer 
from the public view can maintain their individuality only at a greater 
cost. Society penalizes divergences whose good is not recognized, 
whether these ultimately benefit the public welfare or not. Every 
minority, even when its objects are social, must fight its way to recog- 
nition and support. When an activity is directed mainly to preserve 
the interests of one group, even when these interests are thoroughly 
compatible with the interests of all other groups, and in the long run 
even contribute to the general social welfare, it is that group alone 
which must support the particular institution. Perhaps the best way 
to ameliorate this condition, unjust from an ideal point of view, 
though under present conditions perhaps the only feasible one, would 
be to take from the religious communities the financial burden of 
the charities, such as hospitals and recreation centers, which are in 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 167 

reality public, not parochial questions, and permit the funds usually 
expended on these tasks to flow to the causes which the minority 
community can alone rightly further, i.e., the preservation of the ideas 
and life of the religious group and the ethnic community. 

in 

Religious Education in the State Schools^ 

The second suggestion, to introduce religious and ethnic instruction 
in the state schools, follows the plan which has been adopted in some 
of the European countries and in Australia. On the theory that the 
State has taken over the parents' function to educate, it is held that 
the state schools must do all that the parents would have done 
had the education of their children remained under their control. 
In accordance with our own analysis, however, which makes the 
state's function rise out of the necessity of maintaining and furthering 
the society which the state government represents, it becomes clear 
that particularistic teachings have no place in the curriculum of the 
state's schools. The function of the state's system is to be interested 
in whatever is common to all citizens by reason of their living together. 
A movement in line with democracy would eliminate whatever 
vestiges of religious teaching are still retained in the public schools, 
like the reading of the Bible and the celebration of religious holidays. 
The division of our pupils within the school into groups for the study 
of particular doctrines or ethnic heritages presents enormous practical 
difliculties from the administrative point of view. In order to have 
proper grading, religious or ethnic schools in any neighborhood have 
to draw their pupils from many public schools, for the total school 
population is divided into a variety of sects. And second, not all par- 
ents are desirous of giving their children religious instruction. But 
more important from the point of view of the treatment of the subject 
in this chapter is that such a separation of pupils within the school 
savors of the spirit of segregation so antithetical to democracy. 

^A. Riley and others. The Religious Question in Public Education; M. E. Sadler, 
Moral Instruction and Training in Schools, 2 vol.; G. Spiller, Moral Education in 
Eighteen Countries. 



168 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

Particularistic teaching which aims to preserve the society of some 
one group of the population is a function of the society which is to be 
preserved. It is not a function of the state. 

The objections from the point of view of the religious and ethnic 
schools are even more forcible. Wherever religious teaching in public 
schools has been in vogue, it has assumed a formal nature. It is 
bound to be so, for religion and ethnic culture are not abstract ideas 
that can be put into phrases and memorized, as seems to be the notion 
prevailing among many. All that the Catholics say concerning the 
need of atmosphere and of the example of personalities, of oppor- 
tunity for application in every possible phase of school life, is here 
very much to the point. Only when a religion has lost its vitality 
and no longer has a message to bring will memorization of phrases 
be regarded as religious teaching. When an ethnic culture is involved, 
the task is even more complex; another language, literature and his- 
tory must be taught. The effort and enthusiasm needed for such 
a work is beyond what state schools could give. The perpetuation of 
the life of a community is a task not to be attained through incidental 
attention. Religious and ethnic teaching is never mere intellectual 
erudition. There is involved a loyalty directed to the preservation 
of a social group. Special schools for music and art are established, 
because a permeating atmosphere is necessary. A social attitude 
within the school must be developed to inspire a devotion to the pur- 
suit of these arts. Even more is it necessary to have separate schools 
for the religious and ethnic communities, because there is here in- 
volved allegiance to a society. 

Whenever elements in the heritage of a religious group or of an 
ethnic community have become objects of universal as well as partic- 
ular interest, nothing can be said against the introduction of such 
subjects into the public schools. If any portions of ancient Hebrew 
history and literature are regarded as important in the development 
of Western civilization, there seems to be no valid reason why these 
subjects should not take their place with the classic languages and 
Roman and Greek history. If in any given locality Yiddish or 
modern Hebrew is deemed important, there is no more reason for 
excluding these than there is for eliminating any other modern 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 169 

language. This can be maintained only with the proviso that the 
subject be taught in a disinterested manner, not as a 'religious' subject 
with a distinctive halo spread about it. The plan introduced in 
North Dakota and Colorado, of giving credit for Bible study outside 
of the classroom, can meet with no objection, for the idea is to treat 
the Bible as literature.^ But such schemes should not be looked upon 
as praiseworthy steps in the development of religious education. 
So, too, there seems to be no reasonable argument against reading 
good translations of ancient Hebrew writings and of the classics of the 
New Testament in school assemblies alongside of selections from Plato, 
Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, or any other great writer. The exclus- 
ive reading of the Bible, as such, in the authorized and, therefore, not 
disinterested version is reprehensible. Those who argue that the 
Bible should be read because it is great literature are not consistent 
when they demand reading it exclusively. 

The problem of religious education cannot be solved through such 
movements as the Australian plan, the North Dakota idea, and the 
introduction of Bible reading in public schools. Both Catholics 
and Jews who really desire to maintain a specific form of culture 
and ideal — and those among the Protestants to whom Protestantism 
still implies some elements of a distinctly Christian tradition, and does 
not merely mean a halo thrown around the contemporaneous national 
spirit, — do not find such literary studies adequate for maintaining 
the continuity of the community whose ideals they wish to preserve. 
What these communities must do if they are to justify their existence 
is to enrich the personalities of the communicants and through them 
the life of the nation. The formal teaching of religious subjects in 
the public schools is as little adequate to solve our problem as a high 
school study of Latin or Greek is potent to recreate the Roman or 
Greek societies with their specific types of personality. If the ethnic 
and religious communities remain satisfied with such instruction they 
will soon be as dead as are the classic peoples. 

»C. A. Wood, School and College Credit for Outside Bible Study. W. F. Crafts, BiUe 
in School Plans of Many Lands. 



170 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

IV 

Complementary Ethnic and Religious Schools 

The plan that seems to harmonize best with the principles laid 
down is a dual system providing that ethnic and religious education 
be given in special schools.^ In such a scheme each system of schools 
would assure the integrity of the community which supports it; the 
public schools would further the society of the state; the religious 
and ethnic schools, the society of minority communities. Neither 
group is conceived of as having a monopoly on the right to conduct a 
school system. Our first principle is that each community undertake 
the responsibility of the maintenance of its own culture. 

These schools must be correlated with each other. They must 
reckon with each other and adjust themselves to each other. Other- 
wise one school might interfere with the work of the other to such a 
degree as to make the right to conduct a school empty. This prin- 
ciple of correlation fimdamentally affects arrangements of schedule. 
More fundamental, in order to prevent a breach in the pupil's life, 
not only external matters like time schedules must be adjusted with 
mutual regard, but the curriculum and general spirit in each school 
must be developed with cognizance of the situation in the other schools. 
Whatever schemes are developed must fulfill at least these two basic 
principles, separation of control and support on the one hand and 
correlation and adjustment on the other. 

The validity of such an arrangement between the public schools 
and other educational agencies has recently received recognition in 
the Gary plan. One of the many arguments for the Gary plan was 
that the free time between school sessions could be utilized by 
churches for religious education. Unfortunately, in this case, while 
there was accord in principle, the actual schedule proposed proved 
unsatisfactory to some groups and really would have interfered 
with schemes of supplementary education already existing or in 
process of development to a far greater extent than it would have 
promoted new work. A number of Protestant ministers and 

*See A. M. Dushkin, Jetcish Education in New York City. A. S. Athearn, Religious 
Education and American Democracy; B. S. Winchester, Religious Education and 
Democracy: G. V. Wenner, Religious Education and the Public Schools. 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 171 

Reform Jewish rabbis, who had hitherto contented themselves with 
remaining unsatisfied with the Sunday School, approved the plan, 
for, naturally, it did not disturb any of the work that they were carry- 
ing on and offered at least a plan, even if impracticable, to satisfy their 
aspiration for better work. To the Catholics the issue was less 
important, for nothing less than the parochial school is considered 
a solution. The Jews were affected most because they are already 
conducting quite an extensive educational activity supplementary 
to the public school system after school hours. Since the Gary 
schedule kept some of the children in school until 5 and 5 :30 p. m., it 
would have meant the complete disorganization of these activities. 
The arrangement of free hours in the Gary schedule would not have 
permitted reorganization on an efficient basis. The plans being 
developed by Protestant groups for week-day religious instruction 
would also have been seriously hampered. The technical difficulties 
of this scheme of correlation cannot concern us here. What is neces- 
sary to point out, however, is that the idea of correlation becomes 
meaningless, unless we see how it affects definite plans. The Gary 
scheme, heartily endorsing the principle of correlation and mutual 
adjustment, actually would have greatly handicapped the develop- 
ment of supplementary week-day instruction had it been adopted 
in New York.^ 

The Sunday School offers another example of a separate system 
of education by minority groups. This is the agency for religious 
instruction best known in America and the normal one for the I^rotest- 
ant groups. Since the work is conducted on a day when there are 
no public school sessions, the problem of the adjustment of schedules 
is eliminated. Instead of this one problem, however, there are many 
others. So far as the Jews are concerned, it is altogether inadequate 
as a solution, and its introduction as a means of Jewish education 
has on the whole perhaps done more harm than good. Although the 
Protestants practically have no other schools for religious education, 
there is complete dissatisfaction with its accomplishments. For the 
Catholics, with even more stringent demands for religious instruction, 

'Dushkin, Jetoish Education in New York City, p, 217, Berkson in The Jewish 
Teadier, May, 1917. 



172 THEORIES OF AMEBIC ANIZATION 

the Sunday School is out of the question as a solution. There are 
a number of fundamental objections. The time given is insufficient; 
religious teaching becomes disconnected from everyday life; since it 
takes but two hours a week, teachers cannot be expected to devote 
themselves professionally to the work and to follow a course of study 
to prepare themselves adequately. From the point of view of pre- 
serving the society of the ethnic group the Sunday School is as impo- 
tent as the plans for the introduction of religious education into the 
public schools. 

The problem is to create a school system complementary to the 
public schools, correlated with them and yet adequate for perpetuat- 
ing the life of the community which it represents. Both in time sched- 
ules and in content and spirit of the studies the two parallel systems 
must adjust with mutual consideration. In neighborhoods where 
certain ethnic or religious minorities predominate the teaching staff 
in the public schools must have adequate preparation so that they 
may understand the social background of their pupils. Elements 
of the history of the culture and of the arts of the minority group 
should be introduced in the course of study. Especially in the case 
of immigrant groups there is a great deal that the public schools 
can do to get closer to the life of the pupils. This phase of the prob- 
lem of adjustment has already engaged the attention of American 
teachers and educators and is undoubtedly fraught with great 
possibilities. On the other hand the supplementary schools of the 
ethnic minorities must do their part in the adjustment to the schools 
of the state. 

The Jews have been carrying on such supplementary educational 
activities as are proposed here. The Talmud Torahs, to which 
reference has already been made, conduct sessions on week-day 
afternoons and Sunday (occasionally also on Saturday). Their 
function is to transmit the Jewish spiritual heritage. In the begin- 
ing the attempt was to transplant to this country the school of the 
Eastern European ghetto and to crowd in as many hours and tradi- 
tional subjects as possible. Gradually the need of adjusting to the 
new conditions has impressed itself and the Talmud Torah is taking 
on the aspect of a community centre with a broad educational and 



ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS AND THE STATE 173 

recreational program. The Central Jewish Institute represents 
at this writing the furthest development in the attempt to work out a 
plan in which the two elements, preservation of the ethnic culture 
and adjustment to America, will be duly considered.^ The plan of 
work followed in this institution was formulated and initiated by the 
writer and may, therefore, be regarded in the main as his conception 
of a concrete application of the general principles presented. Instead 
of elaborating a theoretical plan of supplementary ethnic education 
and discussing problems likely to arise, it will serve our purpose best 
to describe the activities of this institution. A chapter, therefore, 
has been added dealing with the work of the Central Jewish Institute. 
More detail than is necessary for understanding the general plan 
has been submitted. A careful reader although he might agree 
broadly with the foregoing theoretical analysis might yet wonder 
what it would mean in any given situation. The description of the 
activities as well as of the plan of the Central Jewish Institute should 
give an adequate idea of what is considered to be the proper educa- 
tional agency in our democracy for preserving the culture of the ethnic 
community and should serve as a sound basis for judging the validity 
of the proposed theory of adjustment. 

iFor a general account of Jewish educational efforts, see A. M. Dushkin, Jewish 
Education in New York City. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 



CHAPTER VI 
THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE^ 

I 

Its Significance 

The description of the work of the Central Jewish Institute should 
prove especially instructive in our study of the problem of adjustment 
not alone because it gives ample consideration to the two factors of 
our problem — carrying on the ethnic tradition and adapting to the 
conditions of America — but more so because it was conceived in a 
clear consciousness of this double task which faces Jewish life in 
America. Throughout the whole plan is manifest the realization 
that the institution is to work under American conditions. Never- 
theless, the Hebrew subtitle mm l\Dhn (Talmud Torah) aligns it defi- 
nitely with the educational agency whose specific purpose is the 
perpetuation of Jewish life. Its comprehensive plan of work is the 
culmination of two lines of endeavor in Jewish communal activities. 

The adaptive tendency is best illustrated in those recreational and 
educational agencies which have been established through the initia- 
tive of the Jews who came here in the earlier wave of immigration 
between 1850-1870. These immigrants, coming mainly from 
Grermany, have been eminently successful in attaining success and 
position in American life. Very early they turned their attention to 

^Much more detail has been included in this chapter than is necessary for illustrating 
the foregoing theoretical analysis; its size is undoubtedly disproportionate to its 
relation to the rest of the book. After consideration, however, I have decided to leave 
it in the original form, hoping that the description of plan and methods will help to 
draw a concrete picture and that it may be suggestive to others who are interested in 
the development of the Jewish Community Center. 

The Central Jewish Institute has been selected because it comes nearest to a con- 
sistent application of the ideas elaborated in this book. Undoubtedly, there are other 
Talmud Torahs and Y. M. H. A.'s where some elements of the work are carried on and 
in some instances more thoroughly or with greater success. Some of the Talmud 
Torahs have a more intensive curriculum; some of the Y. M. H. A.'s give a greater 
place to recreational activities. But bo other institution could have served as an 
illustration of what is essential in the plan, the adjustment of forces, the balance of work, 
the organic relationship between the activities, the conscious realization of the problem. 

177 



178 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

the organization of Jewish charitable institutions and they have 
made for themselves a most praiseworthy record by the generosity 
of their gifts, the orderliness of their methods and the administrative 
efficiency of their leadership. To-day, though a minority in the 
community, the so-called "German-Jews" still bear the financial 
burden and retain the ruling power in Jewish philanthropic affairs. 
With the general extension of public interest beyond helping the poor, 
curing the sick and caring for the orphan, educational, recreational 
and 'social' activities have been added during the last thirty years. 
Into this new work the older philanthropic notions are carried over and 
the feeling still persists that the beneficiaries are maladjusted persons, 
abnormal or potentially abnormal. Thus the Educational Alliance 
seeks to Americanize the immigrant who is conceived to be out of 
harmony with the general civic and social life. The Y. M. H. A.'s^ 
hope that their recreational activities will provide a prophylactic 
against possible vice. The social activities have an implication of 
"doing good" for the people in the slums. Always there is an atti- 
tude on the part of the directors that they are conducting an institu- 
tion for others, not for themselves, to serve needs which they them- 
selves or their children do not feel. Even the "religious classes" are 
conducted for the purpose of giving ethical instruction which is sup- 
posed, in some mysterious way, to keep the children of the poor in 
the straight path of virtue. Little thought is exercised upon question- 
ing what should be the normal to which the individual must adjust 
his life. Some current conception is accepted as the standard and the 
person rather is regarded as the misfit. The endeavor is to adjust the 
individual to prevailing sociological conditions. In a word, we might 
say that these institutions endeavor to square the Jew with his new 
geographical environment and to the conditions rising out of it. 

The other factor, stressing the retention of the Jewish consciousness, 
has been contributed mainly through the more recent immigration 
dating from 1881, consisting largely of immigrants from Eastern 
Europe. These newcomers are still in the throes of economic adjust- 
ment. Nevertheless, many have already gained a foothold among the 
ranks of the comfortably situated and are beginning to play a part in 

iThe reference is to the Y. M. H. A.'s in New York City. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 179 

Jewish communal work. Together with the more Americanized Jews 
of the earlier wave of immigration they are cooperating in the endeav- 
or to care for the poor and sick and are from year to year assuming a 
larger share of this common Jewish responsibility. Their distinctive 
contribution, however, lies in their interest in the development of the 
Talmud Torah or Communal Jewish School. As distinguished from 
institutions which rose from the need of meeting the new conditions, 
the Talmud Torah draws its purpose from within Jewish life. Its 
purpose is to transmit the Jewish heritage so that the Jewish com- 
munity consciousness may be preserved and Jewish spiritual life 
perpetuated in the new land for the coming generations. Its work is 
conceived in terms of education for the normal child, not as a method 
of saving individual souls. The institutions mentioned above have 
their origin fundamentally in the new geography; the Talmud Torah, 
we may say, finds its raison d'Hre in Jewish history. It is because the 
Jews have a past crystallized into a social, cultural and spiritual 
heritage, together with a will to carry it on, that the Talmud Torah 
becomes necessary. 

In recent years both types of institutions have tended to broaden 
the scope of their work. On the one hand, the Jewish schools have 
begun to realize that they must take social conditions into considera- 
tion if they are to be successful in their effort to preserve Jewish life in 
this country. Unsanitary and dilapidated buildings, mechanical and 
drill methods exercised upon equally uninteresting material, unkempt 
and untrained teachers, repel the child born and bred in America, 
accustomed to a highly developed and systematized public school. It 
is being realized, furthermore, that the education of girls traditionally 
neglected by the Jewish school can no longer be left out of account. 
The adolescent boy and girl, too, present a most harassing problem, 
for here the disintegration of Jewish life becomes patent. Even the 
parent, it is seen, must be earnestly considered in the problem of 
bridging the gap between the old and the new generations. In answer 
to these problems the movement among the Talmud Torahs in recent 
years has been to include social and recreational activities in their 
scope of work. On the other hand, some of the social settlements, 
beginning to understand the anomaly of being Jewish institutions 



180 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

with no characteristically Jewish work, have commenced to lay more 
emphasis on what they call their "religious classes," and a steady 
increase in attention to the study of Hebrew can be noted. The 
tendency, therefore, in both institutions — though the approach of the 
one is from Jewish tradition and of the other from present social 
conditions — is toward an institution which will harmoniously fuse 
both ideas and complete the synthesis of Jewish history and American 
geography with all that these two facts imply. 

The older institutions, however, are laboring under very difficult 
handicaps in their endeavor to meet the new demands made upon 
them. In the original plans the present needs were not taken into 
consideration and the attempts at improvement are impeded by the 
inadequate facilities. The buildings of the Talmud Torahs, seldom 
up to standard even for classroom work, are in most cases totally 
unfit for the variety of extra-curricular activities demanded by the 
new conception. On the other hand, the social settlements are often 
deficient in proper accommodation for specifically school work. Even 
more important than the almost prohibitory physical difficulties 
inherent in the buildings is the mental attitude of the boards govern- 
ing the institutions. Conditions rather than a changed philosophy 
may be said to be at work in whatever modifications are taking place. 
In neither of these types of institutions has there been a policy 
carefully thought out with reference to the problem involved. Both 
have been imitative, though in different ways. In the one type the 
prevailing conceptions and methods have been adopted whole- 
heartedly, including often the bad, inadequate and irrelevant ele- 
ments as well as the good. Conformity to current social opinions 
and institutions has marked the work. In the development of the 
Talmud Torah, on the other hand, traditional methods are the main 
guides. The yoke of the past weighs heavily upon every detail of 
method and curriculum in the Talmud Torah. Change, whether in 
method or in content, tends in itself to be regarded with suspicion. 

The Central Jewish Institute, erected but recently, is the first 
institution planned at its very inception to meet the problem with full 
cognizance of the two forces shaping Jewish life. Its facilities for 
classroom and school work are unexcelled. On the other hand, both 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 181 

in aesthetic effect and in facilities for the variety of work necessary in a 
social centre it surpasses the older settlements. It addresses itself 
not to child alone, nor to any one age of the population, but regards 
every member of the family as its patron. In fact, it looks upon the 
family as a whole, rather than the individual, as the unit of its work, 
regarding the family as the keystone of the Jewish social structure. 
It is a Community House, endeavoring to serve the neighborhood in 
every way it can, but with the additional and specific purpose of 
perpetuating for the community, and through it for the nation as a 
whole, whatever is considered of significance in Jewish cultural and 
spiritual life. 

What makes the Central Jewish Institute particularly interesting 
to us is its conscious attempt to contribute to the large, general 
problem of developing an educational agency that will be potent to 
preserve a vital Jewish life under conditions prevailing in the United 
States. In its beginning, however, the Institute was a response to a 
local need. It will be of aid in understanding what is of permanent 
and general importance and what is merely local, what has entered on 
principle and what adventitiously, if we briefly examine the local 
conditions from which the Institute came into being. Incidentally 
we may also gain added insight into the problem of Americanization. 

II 

Neighborhood and History 

The Central Jewish Institute (125 East 85th Street) is located in 
Yorkville, as the central portion of Manhattan, east of Fifth Avenue, 
is known. As differentiated from the East Side, which lies to the 
south, and Harlem to the north, this neighborhood presents rather 
the appearance of an older and more settled population. Still pre- 
dominating in foreign elements, — either of first or second generation — 
it differs from these other two sections in several ways. In the first 
place, the neighborhood is not inhabited exclusively by foreigners — 
quite a sprinkling of old inhabitants is noticeable — and a far greater 
number of the inhabitants are the American children of foreign born, 
or foreign born who came here in the '80*s and 90's. In addition, the 



182 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

neighborhood contains an unusually large percentage of Germans and 
Irish, giving a racial distribution reminiscent of the 'old' immigration 
rather than of the 'new.' The Jewish population, heterogeneous 
within itself, is scattered amongst the rest of the population. 

Religiously as well as racially an unusual heterogeneity will be 
found. A Catholic parochial school flanks the synagogue adjoining 
the Central Jewish Institute and several other Catholic institutions 
are in the nearby vicinity. As in every American community, the 
Protestant churches, nevertheless, predominate. From the point of 
view of economic classification, wide though graded divergences 
exist. Lexington Avenue forms a dividing line. West of it through 
Park, Madison and Fifth Avenues, the gradation rises from middle 
class to ultra rich. This division of Fifth Avenue represents one of 
the wealthiest sections of New York. East of Lexington Avenue the 
gradation descends from middle class to poor, from respectable retail 
storekeepers to those who need the assistance of charity. 

The neighborhood as a whole thus shows a wide heterogeneity, 
racially, religiously and economically. On the other hand, the social 
problems of sanitation, charity and assimilation, though not absent, 
do not appear in the acute form characteristic of the congested 
neighborhoods of the more recent immigrants. Conspicuously there 
are no ghettoes, the various foreign elements being distributed 
throughout the neighborhood. The conditions are more nearly like 
what one would expect in a section where the immigration problem 
was not the all engrossing question. Perhaps for this reason the edu- 
cational agency proper for such a neighborhood would be typical of 
the ethnic school in a normal American m-ban community. 

The Jewish element in the population shows within itself a hetero- 
geneity as widely distributed as that in the general community. The 
total Jewish population within easy walking distance from the Institute 
numbers thirty-five thousand. For convenience in description it may 
be classified into four divisions. In the first division are those of the 
highest economic class who live in the Fifth Avenue district. These, 
however, are a small proportion, and perhaps should not be counted as 
a part of the neighborhood, for Fifth Avenue is rather a national than 
a municipal or local thoroughfare. Still, certain individuals in this 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 183 

population have taken an interest in the Central Jewish Institute, 
albeit from a communal rather than local point of view. The second 
and third divisions center around two prominent synagogues, the 
Congregation Kehillath Jeshurun, adjoining the Central Jewish 
Institute, and the Congregation Orach Chayim, on Lexington Avenue 
near 95th Street. 

The most influential element in the work of the Central Jewish 
Institute is the group associated with the Kehillath Jeshurun syna- 
gogue. This group consists mainly of Russian Jews who hail from 
Lithuania and represent the first wave of Russian Jewish immigra- 
tion of the 80's and 90's. These are carefully to be distinguished from 
the new Russian immigration which has a strong element of radical- 
ism and Yiddishism. In contradistinction to the latter these Jews 
are of the bourgeoisie, well-to-do and distinctly conservative. In 
religion they are orthodox, which implies adherence to Jewish cere- 
monies and customs and an allegiance to Jewish life. Although 
most of this group arrived in America poor men and have acquired 
their wealth here, they come from families which were respected in 
the social life of the Eastern European ghetto, where learning was the 
distinguishing class mark. In many cases the rise to social position 
through wealth is merely a recuperation of status previously enjoyed 
by dint of reputation for learning. To these, of course, have been 
added others whose claim to be included in this community rests 
not upon similarity of nativity or of social class in the old country, 
but upon their economic status here together with their adherence to 
'orthodoxy.' This entire group represents the highest economic 
class among the Russian Jewry of New York City.^ 

The third division is a community very similar to the foregoing 
group but consisting of German-Jews and centering about another 

^Although the richer portion of this group has now moved to the west side of Central 
Park. 

It is most interesting to note that the group has a certain amount of neighborhood 
community spirit within itself; families know each other, marriage takes place among 
them, and gossip easily spreads. This is unusual among Jewish communities, because 
in most sections of the city the Jewish population is so mobile that no neighborhood 
feeling can exist. It is the synagogue primarily which has promoted the community 
of spirit. 



184 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

synagogue, namely the Orach Chayim. The economic status of the 
German- Jewish group is similar to the second group (i.e., of Russian 
Jews just described), although these tend to be professional men and 
commission merchants rather than manufacturers. They represent 
also an older stratum of neighborhood population and have been in 
the country a longer time, their immigration dating from the period 
prior to 1880. This group also has a community spirit among its 
members, but has tended to merge with the Russian Jewish group. 
In spite of the feeling akin to a social class consciousness which 
exists between Russian and German Jews, the two groups have been 
drawn together in this neighborhood by their proximity, their similar 
economic conditions and their stand on orthodoxy.^ 

These three groups live west of Lexington Avenue, which is the 
residential district. The fourth group will be found on the avenues 
and streets east of Lexington Avenue. They are more recent arrivals 
consisting of small shopkeepers and workingmen. Economically, 
they range from those who make a living to the very poor. In nativ- 
ity they are Hungarian, Austrian and Polish Jews of the new immi- 
gration, though not perhaps of the latest tide. Like most Jews who 
come from Eastern Europe, they observe the dietary laws and attend 
synagogue with greater or lesser frequency. They are orthodox, if 
we use this term to describe the social background and the type of life 
rather than a creed. In the former two groups orthodoxy has begun 
to be crystallized into a convention. It has become an issue, for the 
Jews in these classes have had to resist the tendency toward the 
Reform synagogue, a likely concomitant of elevation in economic and 
social status. With the Jew of the fourth group 'orthodoxy' is still 
the natural mode of life. This group rather than the former two 
represents the ordinary everyday Jew that one has in mind in think- 
ing of the Russian Jew.^ 

^Both synagogues are orthodox, aim at a decorous service, and favor English sermons. 

*An element conspicuously lacking in this neighborhood is the more modern Russian 
Jew, who had broken with the ghetto before he arrived and who already had been 
influenced by the new forces of Russian life. The Socialist of the distinct and easily 
recognized Russian Jew type, the intellectual Hebraist-Zionist, and the Yiddishist- 
Radical are all missing. The neighborhood tends rather to lean toward conservatism 
and is for a neighborhood of a considerable Jewish population unusually lacking in 
"social movements." 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 185 

These descriptions apply to the adult generation. To understand 
the problem of the Central Jewish Institute it is necessary to have 
some idea of the tendencies amongst those growing into manhood and 
womanhood. As a matter of fact it was the anxiety for the coming 
generation that brought the Central Jewish Institute into being. 

The adolescents of the group described last present a good example 
of the "half-baked second generation." They have become thor- 
oughly "Americanized." They are a jolly crowd, know the batting 
averages to a 'T', and support the musical comedies regularly. They 
are adepts in "kidding," and their repartee, which is abundant, 
can always be traced to the latest vaudeville shows. Gum chewing 
is their distinguishing characteristic and they are very "padriodig," 
as they pronounce it. The better of these gather in "literary clubs" 
which never have a literary program. The sessions of the club are 
generally devoted to the business of preparing for the next dance or 
minstrel show. 

They know little of Jewish life, tending to associate it merely with 
the ceremonies and especially with the prohibitions observed in the 
home, the significances of which are very seldom, if ever, understood. 
Their "Jewish culture" is limited to the ability to read the Hebrew 
prayers mechanically without understanding the meaning of the text. 
They are generally indifferent to, if not ashamed of, Jewish life. 
Sometimes, when put to it, they assert their pride in being Jews, 
the psychical compensation for their real self -depreciation. Having 
gained a public school education and speaking English (with a New 
York, not a foreign accent), they tend to regard themselves supe- 
rior to their parents and everything associated with them. This 
cocksure and " smart guy " attitude is carried over into their 
general character. They have lost whatever culture was inherent 
in the customs and institutions of their parents' traditional life, and 
have substituted for it not a universal culture, or even an American 
one, but the ways and ideas immediately surrounding them, — rag- 
time and jazz band, baseball averages and, at the height, musical 
comedy, together with an individualistic attitude acquired from the 
bitter competitive industrial scheme into which they have been 
thrown. The type described, it will be recognized, is not particularly 



186 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

a Jewish type, but a well known product of the larger American city 
where the street corner, the movies, the baseball scores and musical 
comedy are the true educational influences for the adolescents of the 
economically poorer groups. 

While this description would apply to an easily recognizable portion 
of the second generation, there is also a goodly percentage where the 
home influence has not completely broken down. This would be 
true most often where the family had some social status in the past 
and where it has been able to meet the struggle for existence with some 
success. In these cases, especially when the children have gone on 
through high school and college, the crudities in general personality 
are minimized. As far as Jewish knowledge and Jewish loyalty are 
concerned, however, the same general conditions exist. There are, 
indeed, instances when an unusually favorable family influence has 
been able to withstand the disintegrating environment or when the 
college Zionist or Menorah society has kindled a spark of loyalty to 
Jewish tradition in the vision of the ideal of a renascent Jewish 
cultural life. But these are the exceptions, not the rule. 

Among the well-to-do similar conditions prevail, except that a 
greater number have gone to college, and more often crudeness has 
been avoided. Business and the professions ultimately absorb these 
and the attachment to Jewish life, if it continues, becomes quite 
formal. Most often Jewishness for these is a matter of strange 
ceremonial, observed either from superstition, as a mark of respect for 
parents, or as the convention of the social set. There are here, too, 
notable individual examples of sympathy with and intelligent devotion 
to Jewish life. 

The prevailing characteristic among all groups, however, is the 
disintegration of the ethnic and religious culture in the second genera- 
tion. Too often the process is not counterbalanced by an acquisition 
of general culture. With a superficial knowledge of the socially 
approved language and conventions the younger members of the 
family tend to regard themselves as superior to their parents, espe- 
cially in those cases where in the fierce economic struggle the young 
people contribute to the support of the family. They do not realize 
that their parents, apparently not knowing, may still be wiser and 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 187 

more cultured than they. For the old generation represents a tradi- 
tion which embodies a long social experience, while the children are 
bereft of all but a very superficial outlook. Frequently, when as 
among the 'better' classes an attempt has been made to acquire the 
manners of the land, the lack of deep roots becomes apparent, and 
the phenomenon of affectation associated with nouveau-riche is often 
marked. No adequate agency is at hand to bridge the gap between 
the generations, to interpret the old tradition in terms of the new. 

The work that led to the creation of the Central Jewish Institute 
was initiated among the members of the Kehillath Jeshurun Congre- 
gation, the synagogue of the well-to-do Russian Jewish group. Loyal 
to Judaism and anxious that their children should remain loyal, they 
found themselves at a loss when they saw their children drift away. 
Professor M. M. Kaplan, then the Rabbi of the congregation and 
principal of its religious school, had been continuously emphasizing 
the importance of Jewish education in the task of fostering Jewish life 
and the necessity of reorganizing Jewish school work with considera- 
tion of the surrounding social life. It was due to his influence that 
discussion arose in 1908 that culminated in the establishment of the 
Central Jewish Institute. This underlying motive is significant in 
that it marks a new era in Jewish institutional life. The earlier 
communal efforts had been conceived in a philanthropic spirit, as 
means for the betterment of others, Here it was the interest of their 
own children that the founders had in mind.^ 

A second important departure from the then current notions is the 
conception of what was meant by a Jewish School. Not only was it 



^So strong was this point made that some interpreted this to mean an institution for 
their own use exclusively. Subsequently the most influential of this group moved to 
the other side of Central Park, and a new and very interesting institution, "The Jewish 
Center," was established by them. The Jewish Centre modernizes the old idea of the 
Synagogue as a "Meeting House," "House of Study," and "House of Prayer." It is 
planned as a palatial ten-story structure with complete facilities for educational and 
social work. It provides for club rooms, gymnasium, dining hall, classrooms, audi- 
torium, etc., but the synagogue is at the centre of the entire conception. The concep- 
tion is unique, for the synagogue is built right into the structure, as its central archi- 
tectural feature. It is not a general public institution, but a clubhouse, so to speak, for 
the families of the members. It is an interesting experiment in modern reconstruction 
of the synagogue as a social centre. While strictly orthodox, it completely surpasses 
any Reform Temple in modernity of conception. 



188 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

planned for adequate classroom instruction; the idea of 'school' was 
broadened to include auditorium, reading room, social room and 
gymnasium, to provide for recreational, social and general educational 
activities. Naturally the idea, being new, provoked opposition. In 
this center of 'orthodoxy' the close propinquity of shower bath and 
religious school seemed sacrilegious to some of the older members of 
the congregation. The differences were so violent that the large 
plan, which involved an expenditure hitherto unheard of with refer- 
ence to Talmud Torah, might have fallen through had it not been for 
the aggressive personality of one of the leading spirits. Samuel I. 
Hyman, to whom is due the honor of being the founder and first 
president of the Central Jewish Institute, was himself a character 
indicative of a new attitude. Though born in America, he was 
doggedly loyal to orthodox Judaism. With his strict Jewish adherence 
he combined an intense loyalty to America, and believed whole- 
heartedly in the possibility of harmonizing the two forces. Seeing in 
the local educational need the possibility of contributing to the 
solution of a general Jewish problem, he determined that the Insti- 
tute should be built on model lines so that it might become the 
prototype of the educational institution potent to preserve Jewish 
life in America. It was due to his tireless efforts that the building was 
erected without compromises. The cornerstone was laid in May, 
1915, and activities began in the fall of 1916. From its very inception 
the Institute cooperated with the Bureau of Jewish Education of 
New York City.^ Under its auspices a survey of the neighborhood 
was made, before activities were initiated, with the purpose of 
determining possibilities and character of work. This procedure of 
studying the district before beginning work symbolizes the new atti- 
tude of the Institute, the substitution of a plan consciously elaborated 
for haphazard and traditional methods. 

Throughout the plan of work is found the realization that the new 
situation demands new methods. Nevertheless, at many points 
conditions had to be reckoned with. From the foregoing account 
may be gathered some of the circumstances which must be taken into 

'For the scope and functions of the Bureau of Jewish Education, see Dushkin, 
Jewish Education in New York City. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 189 

consideration in gauging to what degree the Central Jewish Institute 
meets the ideal of the ethnic Community Center. In the description 
of the building and its activities which follows, it will be instructive 
to point out other instances where the Institute fails to fulfill ideal 
requirements. However, our main purpose is to present the general 
principles underlying the work, to show what types of activities are 
carried on, their purpose and emphasis. 

Before entering upon his duties as Executive Director in 1917, the 
writer submitted a "Policy and Plan of Work" which the Trustees 
agreed should become the basis of the work. This statement can still 
serve very well as a concise outline of the plan.^ Its main ideas were 
summarized in several paragraphs at the first annual meeting held in 
February, 1918. It may be interesting to state them here before 
proceeding to the detailed description of the work of the institution. 

"The underlying idea of The Central Jewish Institue is Talmud Torah,' as is in- 
dicated by its 'sub-title. The preservation of Jewish spiritual life is the idea which 
gives point and purpose to all the activities of the institution. 

"With all its strong insistence on a Jewish purpose, it nevertheless recognizes the 
need of adjusting to the conditions of American life and thought. The harmonization 
of Jewish purpose with American life is the institution's raison d' etre. 

"Insisting on an intensive course in Jewish subjects for the Talmud Torah, it 
nevertheless maintains that those who cannot be induced to enroll in the intensive 
work must not be entirely neglected; they must be reached through a scheme of 
extension education. 

"In addition to specifically Jewish work, the Jewish center must carry on activities 
which make for the physical and social well-being of the people who live in the neigh- 
borhood. Health and good citizenship are a part of, and not oppesed to, Judaism. 

"Just as the activity of the Institute should not be limited to one aspect in the life 
of the individual, so, too, it should not be limited to one age in the population. The 
older brother and sister and the parents must be reached. Indeed, no member of the 
family is more important than the other. For the task is to bridge the gap between 
the generations, to integrate the family. The family is the cornerstone upon which 
rests the integrity and continuity of Jewish life. 

'Tn fine, the Central Jewish Institute hopes to make a contribution to the solution 
of the problem of creating the educational institution that will be potent to preserve 
a vital Jewish life in America." 



^The statement appeared in The Jevnsh Teacher, December, 1917, under title "The 
Community School Center." 

The plan of work was initiated by the writer, but is now being carried on under the 
capable direction of Mr. A. P. Schoolman. 



190 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

III 

The Building 

The structure is itself a vital part of the plan. The Central Jewish 
Institute is a thoroughly fire-proof four story building, standing on a 
lot 60 X 100 feet. It contains, in addition to ten classrooms, two 
kindergarten rooms, two social rooms, a sitting and reading room, 
an auditorium, gymnasium, kitchenette, and two roof -gardens, one 
adjoining the kindergarten room, the other on the top of the building. 
Such a combination of facilities has hitherto not been associated with 
the Talmud Torah. In recent years the need of facilities for general 
work has begun to be recognized. Talmud Torahs have included an 
assembly hall for lectures and for synagogue purposes. One Talmud 
Torah has even added a gymnasium. But the Central Jewish 
Institute is the first Jewish educational institution in New York City 
that has combined all facilities for social work with thoroughly ade- 
quate accommodation for school work. 

Both from a practical and aesthetic point of view it sets a new 
standard. It has made admirable use of its space and at the same 
time is undoubtedly the most beautiful structure in New York City 
devoted to school purposes among the Jews. It has been done in 
exceptionally good taste and with an eye to comfort as well as to the 
needs of hard usage. Two principles of primary importance for 
any community school center have been well illustrated. The first is 
that of the convertible unit. A room utilized for one purpose at one 
time may be converted to serve with equal adequacy other purposes 
when necessary. Thus the auditorium may serve as lecture platform 
with cinematograph and stereoptican facilities, as a stage for dramat- 
ics, and as a synagogue. What is meant is not only that the audi- 
torium can be made to serve these various purposes, but that through 
change of fixtures and decorations it is actually converted from one 
type of room to the other. So, too, the gymnasium, ordinarily used 
for calisthenics, athletic games and dances, can be converted into a 
lunch room and banquet hall. A kitchenette and collapsible tables 
are at hand to make such a transition of usage convenient as well as 
possible. The classrooms have been provided with movable, instead 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 191 

of stationary seats, and with additional closets, so that they are equally 
available for the regular school work in the afternoons — and for the 
clubs and organizations that meet in the evenings. So throughout 
the building the addition of many carefully planned details enhances 
greatly both the convenience and possibility for a variety of use. 

The second principle observed was that of organic relationship. 
In many of the older institutions where numerous facilities have been 
provided no plan or purpose or underlying motive is felt. There is a 
shapelessness and ungainliness about the building that has led to the 
characterization of 'barns.' In the Central Jewish Institute a definite 
tone prevails and the unity of the whole institution impresses itself 
upon the visitor. It has also been carefully saved from assuming the 
institutional and barrack-like character that the public schools as well 
as many social centers have. The trees and ferns in front of the 
building, the flowerbeds in the windows, the furnishings in the library 
and social hall, all help to give a more genial and intimate impression. 
An effort has been made to illustrate that a community house, though 
primarily a school, ought to be more like a home than like a public 
asylum. 

There is one direction, perhaps, in which the institution should have 
gone further. The Ethnic Community House, in its architecture and 
interior decorations, should be representative of the type of civiliza- 
tion which it is conceived of as furthering. Jewish buildings should, 
wherever possible, although built in harmony with the surroundings, 
utilize whenever possible Jewish motifs and designs. One should be 
able, in passing a Jewish Community House, to know what it is, just 
as one can recognize a Gothic church or a cathedral. For the present, 
in view of the fact that there is no developed original Jewish architec- 
ture, nothing more than the utilization of certain decorative designs 
can be hoped for. Something along this line has been done in design- 
ing the stage curtain and the pulpit and readers' desk in connection 
with the synagogue. More will need to be done through appropriate 
pictures, hangings and decorations. The underlying principle should 
be borne in mind that the embodiment of Jewish ideas in architecture 
and decoration is a cultural contribution and an educational influence. 



192 OF AMERICANIZATION THEORIES 

The observation of these concepts, variety 0/ usage, organic relation- 
ship to give a unity of character, a warm and intimate rather than institu- 
tionalized atmosphere, and the unique character of the ethnic group em- 
bodied so far as possible in architecture and decorations, is prerequisite 
to a full realization of any plan of work that may be laid out for 
ethnic community centers. 

IV 

Control and Administration 

The responsibility is vested in a virtually self -perpetuating Board of 
Directors, consisting of thirty-five members.^ The large size of the 
board is due, as in similar cases,^ to the fact that in the past the main 
function of boards of Jewish schools has been to raise the funds 
necessary for the maintenance of the institution. The members were 
generally chosen either because of their large contributions or their 
ability to solicit funds from others. The directors in the Central 
Jewish Institute actively interested in the work number less than ten, 
and as soon as the financial difficulties shall have been adjusted the 
tendency will be to reduce the number of members on this board 
more nearly to the active workers. 

It is important to note that the board is a lay body, responsible to 
itself alone; it is not subject to any clerical or other organization. 
Though the Institute is the outgrowth of the congregational school of 
the adjoining synagogue, the board is an entirely separate body. 
It includes a number of rabbis, but these enter as individuals with the 
same duties and functions as the lay members. The directors are 
drawn mainly from the second and third classes of the population 
described above, and represent the two synagogues, Kehillath 
Jeshurun and Orach Chayim. The Institute is an 'orthodox' institu- 
tion; but this word is used in its general psychological and social 

^In accordance with the constitution the board should consist of twenty-five members 
to be elected annually by the members contributing to the support of the institution. 
As in most Talmud Torahs, this institution is governed by custom, not by constitution. 

^See A. M. Dushkin, Jewish Education in New York City, page 197 ff. Dr. Dushkin 
recommends a board of nine representing the parents, neighborhood and community at 
large. This is undoubtedly theoretically correct from the purely administrative point 
of view, but, as Dr. Dushkin recognizes, difficult to introduce under present conditions 
where adequate income is not assured. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 193 

meaning, rather than in any creedal sense; i. e., to indicate respect for 
tradition and for Jewish ceremonial practice and to point out that in 
the present transitional stage in which all forces are naturally making 
for change and disintegration the Institute sees its own task as one of 
conservation. Perhaps most of all the term 'orthodox' here indicates 
that the central interest comes from within Jewish life and has not 
been forced upon it from the outside. Neither the organization of 
the board nor its policy are parochial in spirit. 

The independent and private form of organization is counterbal- 
anced in actual practice by several unofficial checks. The policy of 
Jewish schools, generally speaking, is wholly dependent upon the wish 
of its directors or trustees. A number of influences, semi-official and 
unofficial, have become active in the work of the Central Jewish 
Institute that tend to make its control in reality communal, though in 
form it is private. The Institute no longer depends entirely upon the 
philanthropic efforts of its trustees. Together with other large Tal- 
mud Torahs, social and charitable institutions, it receives a large 
part of its income from the Federation of Jewish Philanthropic 
Societies of New York City.^ Although the Federation is prohibited 
by its own laws from interfering with the internal policy of any insti- 
tution, it serves nevertheless as a check upon communal work through 
its power to refuse admission to institutions and to determine upon 
the budgets of constituent societies.^ In presenting its needs to the 
Federation the Central Jewish Institute acts, together with the other 
Talmud Torahs affiliated with the Federation, through the Board of 
Jewish School Aid, a voluntary organization representative of the 
Jewish schools and interested in the development of Jewish education. 
There are thus two communal checks: in distributing the funds the 
Federation must reckon with the needs of all the communal institu- 



^The Federation is a central organization which collects and distributes the funds for 
one hundred and five of the largest Jewish communal institutions. The institutions 
aflBliated with it may accept no contributions for ciurent expenses from members; 
their membership must contribute to the Federation which pools the resources of these 
nstitutions. (See Jewish Communal Register). 

*The Jewish schools were admitted only after a diflBcult struggle. The directors of 
the Federation, who conceive of social work as philanthropy, did not at first recognize 
educational work as coming within their scope. The Jewish schools, however, pointed 
out that the presence of a central organization attracting all the larger contributions 
preempted the field for them and prevented their obtaining support. — The Jewish 
Teacher, May, 1917. 



194 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

tions and the Jewish schools must keep pace with the rest; second, 
each school must accommodate itself to the needs of the other schools. 

There is a more direct force arising out of the income derived from 
self-supporting sources, the largest part of which consists of the tuition 
fees paid by the children who attend the Talmud Torah, as the inten- 
sive class work is called. During the year 1917-1918 an active 
Parents' Association was formed which is making itself felt in the work 
of the Institute. The plan is to give the parents official representa- 
tion on the board. Especially will this be possible when a greater 
proportion of the funds come from the neighborhood sources.^ 

An additional unofficial influence is exerted by the workers and 
teachers of the institution through the Executive Director. Responsi- 
bility for carrying out the policy of the board has been centralized in 
the executive head, and the committee form of administration in 
which the various departments were directly responsible to com- 
mittees of the board has been wholly eliminated.^ The success of 
the work of the Institute has in great measure been made possible 
by adopting the centralized as against the decentralized method of 
administration. This form of organization has permitted the Execu- 
tive Director to exert a guiding influence in the development of the 
work. Through the workers and teachers a number of educational 
influences are indirectly brought to bear upon the Institute. Among 
these are to be reckoned the Bureau of Jewish Education, the Hebrew 
Principals' Association, and the Jewish Teachers' Association. In 
addition, contact with the general secular educational influences 
is maintained through the professional interests of the workers. 
Cooperation with various civic bodies establishes also relationships 
with the general community at large. 

The government of the Central Jewish Institute is thus responsive 
to a wide variety of influences and can in no sense be regarded as 
subject to the opinions of a small number of private individuals. 
In form of organization, however, the Institute is defective, for it will 
be recalled that the various influences make themselves felt through 
unofficial channels. Much now depends upon the good will and 

^Since the above was written this idea has materialized; the president of the Parents* 
Association has been elected a member of the Board of Trustees. 

^See A. M. Dushkin, Jewish Education in New York City, Part II, Chap. IV. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 195 

wisdom of the present Board of Trustees, and the strength of the 
Executive Director. If the neighborhood and communal forces were 
made regular and official, as well as occasional and voluntary, the 
government of the Central Jewish Institute would become truly 
representative of a democratic conception. 



The Plan and Content of the Work 

1. The Talmud Torah 

The central activity of the Institute embodying the purpose for 
which it was established is the Talmud Torah. It is the emphasis 
upon this phase of its work which diflFerentiates the Central Jewish 
Institute from the recreational and social settlements which may 
appear very similar to superficial observation. It is not alone that 
more time is given to the Jewish activities and that they occupy a 
larger place among the total activities. What is more important to 
bear in mind is that the Talmud Torah is the central activity and 
gives meaning and character to the whole institution. It is this 
differentiated purpose of the promotion of Jewish life that gives to the 
Central Jewish Institute its peculiar significance. Properly speaking, 
the work of Americanization done by the Educational Alliance is a 
state function, as is also the recreational work of the Y. M. H. A.'s. 
Such activities should be public, not sectarian. Many of these 
institutions are of great temporary benefit, and they will be necessary 
until the state has equally adequate facilities for such work. But it is 
in the study of particularly Jewish things that Jewish institutions 
must ultimately find their raison d'etre.^ 

the curriculum 

The curriculum, presented on pages 196-97, is partly a response to 
the wishes of the parents and partly the conception of those in charge 
of the school. It represents a modification of the traditional course 
to the needs of the child living in America. The discussion will bring 
out in the most important instances what is due to principle and 
what to the necessity of compromising with prevailing conceptions. 

iSee Chap. Ill especially pp. 100-106. 



196 



TALMUD TORA 

SIX YEAR COURSE 



Year 


Prayer Book 


Hrs. 

per 
Wk. 


Hrs. 
per 
Yr. 


Hebrew Lan- 
guage and 
Literature 


Hrs. 
per 
Wk. 


Hrs. 
per 
Yr. 


Biblical Litera- 
ture (in Hebrew) 


Hrs. 
per 
Wk. 


Hrs 
per 
Yr 


First 


Mechanics of Reading 
and Translation of 
Simple Prayers and 
Blessings. 


2K 


120 


Graded 
Course in 
Hebrew. 

Conversation, 
Reading, 
and the 
Elements 
of Compo- 
sition. 


3 

4 

2K 


144 
192 
120 








Second 


Sabbath Service. 
Reading and 
Selections for 
Translation and 
Explanation. 


1^ 


72 








Third 


Weekday Services. 
(As above) 


M 


36 


Pentateuch 
(Children's 
Edition). 


3 


144 


Fourth 


Holiday Services. 
(As above) 


M 


36 


Supervision 
of Home 
Reading. 
Grammar 
and Com- 
position. 


iM 


84 


Former Prophets, 
selections from 
Psalms and Pro- 
verbs. 


3 


144 


Fifth 


Ethics of the Fathers. 
(As above) 


M 


36 


As above. 


2K 


120 


Latter Prophets, 
(selections). 


m 


108 


Sixth 


Review of Various 
Services. 


% 


36 


As above. 


m 


84 


Latter Prophets 
(selections) . 


iH 


108 


Total 
Hours 






336 






744 






504 



197 



lURRICULUM 

AGE OF ENTRANCE: 8 




196 



TALMUD TORAH 



SIX YEAR COURSE 



Year 


Prayer Book 


Hrs. 

per 
Wk. 


Hrs. 
per 
Yr. 


Hebrew Lan- 
guage and 
Literature 


Hrs. 
Wk. 


Hrs. 
per 
Yr. 


Biblical Litera- 
ture (in Hebrew) 


Hrs. 
per 
Wk. 


Hrs. 
per 
Yr. 


First 


Mechanics of Beading 
and Translation of 
Simple Prayers and 
Blessings. 


^y^ 


120 


Graded 
Course in 
Hebrew. 

Conversation, 
Reading, 
and the 
Elements 
of Compo- 
sition. 


3 

4 
2M 


144 
192 
120 






Second 


Sabbath Service. 
Reading and 
Selections for 
Translation and 
Explanation. 


IH 


72 








Third 


Weekday Services. 
(As above) 


% 


36 


Pentateuch 
(Children's 
Edition). 


3 


144 


Fourth 


Holiday Services. 
(As above) 


H 


36 


Supervision 
of Home 
Reading. 
Grammar 
and Com- 
position. 


IM 


84 


Former Prophets, 
selections from 
Psalms and Pro- 
verbs. 


3 


144 


Fifth 


Ethics of the Fathers. 
(As above) 


M 


36 


As above. 


m 


120 


Latter Prophets, 
(selections). 


i'A 


108 
108 
504 


Sixth 


Review of Various 
Services. 


M 


36 


As above. 


m 


84 


Latter Prophets 
(selections). 


m 


Total 
Hours 






336 






744 







CURRICULUM 

1 AGE 


OF ENTRANCE: 8 














197 


History 

1 


Hrs. 
per 
Wk. 


Hrs. 
^r' 


Customs, 

Contempora- 
neous Life. 


Hrs. 

Wk. 


Hrs. 

^yT. 


Singing 


Hrs. 

per 
Wk. 


Hrs. 
per 
Yr. 


Total 
Hrs. 
per 
Wk. 


Total 
Hrs. 


' (0 Jewish 
Heroes. 
(From 
Abraham 
toHerzl). 


M 


36 


Jews of Many 
Lands, 
Customs and 
Ceremonies 
of the Home. 


M 


36 


Melodies for 
Services in 
the Home. 
Folksongs. 


'A 


24 


'TA 


360 


Biblical His- 
tory to the 
Destruc- 
tion of the 
First 
Temple. 


M 


36 


As above 


M 


36 


As above 
and 
Synagogue 
Responses. 


V2 


24 


m 


360 


Destruction 
of the First 
Temple to 
Arabic 
Period. 


H 


36 








As above. 


Vi 


24 


m 


360 


Arabic Period 
to Modern 
Times. 


V4 


36 


The Jewish 
Calendar; 
The Syna- 
gogue. 


M 


36 


As above. 


Vi 


24 


lA 


360 


History of 
the Jews in 
America. 


m 


72 








As above. 


Vi 


24 


lA 


360 


Review. The 
Story of the 
Jewish Peo- 
pie. 


m 


72 


The Ameri- 
can Jewish 
Commun- 
ity and Its 
Problems. 


M 


36 


As above. 


'A 


24 


1A 


360 


1 




288 






144 






144 




2160 


• 























198 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

Hebrew. Of the 2160 hours in the entire six-year schedule 1548 
hours are devoted to Hebrew subjects : 744 are devoted to the Hebrew 
language and secular literature, 504 hours to the Sacred Literature 
which is read and taught in Hebrew, and 300 hours to the Hebrew 
Prayer Book. To those who regard the Jewish school as a religious 
school and who think of religion in terms of ethical and theological 
teachings, this condition of affairs may be surprising, all the more so 
when a further study of the curriculum does not reveal any special 
place for direct religious or ethical instruction. This can appear 
strange only when the nature of the Jewish group and what Western 
thought terms its religion are not understood. As we have already 
noted above, Judaism is a term like Hellenism, in which it is implied 
that the social heritage is the product of a definite national group. 
What makes the whole matter confusing is that while Hellenism finds 
its expression mainly in artistic and intellectual fields, Israel finds its 
highest national expression in social ethics and ethical religion. 
Judaism is a religious civilization. It will be noted that most of the 
"literature" would be called "religious literature." Even the selec- 
tions in the secular literature would deal very often with matters of 
religious interest like the Jewish holidays or with Jewish ethics or 
Jewish history. The proportion of time under the subject of Hebrew 
devoted to belles lettres is very small. On the other hand, a Jewish 
school is never a place merely for the study of creed and ceremonies. 
The emphasis upon the study of Hebrew is the central characteristic 
of all traditional Jewish schools. 

The so-called "natural method" has been adopted in the teaching of 
Hebrew. Competent authorities agree that this method is pedagogi- 
cally superior in the teaching of foreign languages and its excellence in 
this respect would have sufficiently warranted the elimination of the 
older methods of translation, vocabulary building and drills in gram- 
mar. The introduction of the new method in Jewish schools has 
undoubtedly been influenced also by the development of the hope 
for national regeneration and by the growth of modern Hebrew litera- 
ture. The use of Hebrew in conversation tends to make the pupil 
feel that the language is living and that the people still lives. It makes 
the ancient literature live again and opens the gateway to the modern 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 199 

literature and to the new life developing in Palestine. A knowledge 
of Hebrew gives the individual direct access to the means of a true 
understanding of the literary sources of Jewish spiritual life which are 
also the sources of many of the religious and moral conceptions of 
Europe.^ The study of Hebrew, furthermore, is of supreme signifi- 
cance for the present and future of Jewish life. With the passing of 
Yiddish as the Ghetto breaks up, Hebrew alone can remain the 
distinguishing Jewish language. While the language of the country of 
citizenship must become for Jews their ordinary medium for inter- 
course, the community of All Israel must have its common language. 
Hebrew must serve as means of interchange of thought between the 
various Jewish communities of the world and between them and 
Palestine. The complete forgetting of a distinctive tongue will 
undoubtedly mean complete obliteration of the Jewish group. No 
Jewish community is ever known to have survived long after it had 
given up its distinctive mode of expression. Language and the 
thought of life seem inextricably bound up. Professor Schechter's 
dictum, "When the last word of Hebrew shall have been heard in our 
Synagogues, then, too, there shall be the last of Judaism," finds a deep 
echo in the Jewish consciousness.^ 

The Prayer Book. In the study of the Prayer Book we come upon a 
subject more distinctly a part of the religious phase of Jewish life. 
The aim of the course is to enable the pupils to read the liturgy (which, 
of course, is in Hebrew), to know the order of the various services, 
and to understand the most important passages. Religious services 
in both the home and the synagogue are such an integral part of 
Jewish social life that the teaching of the Prayer Book is traditionally 
considered the first step in any system of Jewish education. 

Paradoxical as it may seem, this emphasis upon the teaching of 
prayers has proved a serious obstacle to the development of an 
effective curriculum of Jewish instruction.^ The father through daily 
repetition of the prayers for many years has attained great skill in 
saying them off very rapidly, not realizing that his accomplishment 

iSee Chap. IV. 

^Solomon Schechter, The Problem of Religious Education in Seminary Addresses. 

^See Dushkin, Jevnsh Education in New York City, p. 350. 



200 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

has been gained through practice outside of the school as well as 
through attendance in the'cheder' (which was in his Eastern European 
home an all-day affair). He expects the Hebrew school, with its 
comparatively few hours, to reach an exacting standard of rapidity 
in reading. In America, where parents do not expect too much from 
their children in the matter of Jewish education, the ability to read 
Hebrew mechanically is often completely identified with Jewish 
education. In response to this demand a considerable portion of the 
time is devoted to the Prayer Book, in the first and second years, 
although its content is for the most part beyond the understanding 
of the child. In a properly ordered curriculum, this subject should 
be postponed until the higher grades. The difficulty of the Prayers, 
at this age, necessitates the use of the translation method instead of 
the more interesting and more effective 'natural' method adopted in 
the course in Hebrew and Literature. 

It must be remembered in this discussion that the Hebrew Prayer 
Book, furthermore, is as much a body of literature as it is a collection 
of liturgy. It includes excerpts from the Bible and from Psalms and 
the portions of direct prayer are few. It is a service of the People of 
Israel to its God rather than a relationship of the individual to the 
deity. Nationalistic Jews, disclaiming the religious tie, might still 
study it as a literary expression of the national soul. Thus the most 
'religious' of the subjects of the curriculum has a literary and national 
aspect, just as the cultural and literary aspect has a religious bent- 
It is necessary constantly to bear in mind the unitary character of the 
curriculum, so as not to fall into the artificial 'religious' and 'national- 
istic' emphasis. 

History and Customs and Institutions. The subjects under history, 
customs, ceremonies and contemporary Jewish life are taught in 
English and represent studies descriptive of Jewish life. The func- 
tion of these subjects is to summarize, to put in proper perspective, to 
clarify the significance of the events, products and customs of Jewish 
life. 

Several points are worthy of note in connection with the method 
followed in the teaching of history. Jewish history, even in the 
biblical periods, is treated as history, not as a groundwork for 'moral 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 201 

lessons,' Whatever 'ethical' or 'religious' training is given results 
from the study of the content, not from any direct attempt to inculcate 
moral maxims or catechetical solutions to problems. For this reason 
as well as because the Jewish people is conceived of as still living, 
Jewish history is brought up to modern times, and equal emphasis is 
given to biblical and post-biblical periods. The course includes, 
for instance, a year's work in the history of the Jews in the United, 
States. Too often the teaching of 'history' in the Sunday schools has 
left the pupils with the notion that the Jewish people is a strange 
extinct people who lived in the dim past, governed by supernatural 
laws of development. It is perhaps not surprising that their con- 
clusion would be that such a people could really have no place in our 
modern natural world. The organization as well as material and 
spirit of the course differs from the usual mode of procedure. The 
history is taught in a series of cycles. This permits the child who 
attends only one or two years to attain the perspective which is 
essential in the teaching of history. It permits also review of histori- 
cal periods from various points of view as the child develops in age. 
The course in social life includes both strictly religious ceremonies, 
social customs and much that faUs in between. Beginning with a 
description of "Jews in many lands," the course proceeds to study 
those customs which identify Jews. This course also includes in the 
last year a survey of Jewish communal life in the United States, with 
an attempt to present in a simple way the problems which confront it. 

The Jewish Sabbath and Holidays. The Sabbath and Holidays, 
though not appearing as separate subjects in the curriculum, form, 
nevertheless, an important element. These institutions which 
embody the most significant ideas in Jewish life are really a subject of 
study in all the courses in the curriculum. In addition to treating 
these holidays in numerous places both incidentally and directly, 
the course of study is interrupted for a lesson or two whenever a holi- 
day appears on the calendar and time is devoted to a study of the 
particular holiday, from its various phases, liturgic, ceremonial, 
historical, etc. Special children's services are conducted on the 
Sabbath and on the Festivals, though not on the High Holy Days. 
As described below, in addition extra-curricular activities, entertain- 



202 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

ments and plays are conducted for the neighborhood to mark the 
festivals. 

AIMS OF THE CURRICULUM 

The aims of the curriculum of the Talmud Torah may be summa- 
ri^zed as follows : 

1. To give a knowledge of the Hebrew language. 

a. To open up for direct appreciation the storehouse of 

classic (Bible, etc.) and modern Hebrew literature. 
h. To teach its peculiarly significant concepts which deal 

with social and religious ideals. 
c. To form a bond of union with the Jewish past and the 

Jewish present in other lands, especially with the new life 

in Palestine. 

2. To transmit the significant cultural, religious, and social herit- 
age of the Jewish people through a knowledge of its history, literature, 
customs, and religious practices. 

3. To bind the child in loyalty to the Jewish People so that he may 
strive for a continuous development of its ideal — cultural, social, 
religious — aspirations . 

4. To give some notion of the general problems facing the Jewish 
People in its desire to perpetuate itself as a free society and the partic- 
ular problems involved in the task of adjustment to life in America. 

In short, the work of the Talmud Torah consists in converting the 
physical Jew, who is so by birth, into a spiritual Jew, who remains so 
by reason of the ideal significance of Jewish life. 

THE SCHEDULE 

The most serious administrative problem of the Talmud Torah is 
to organize its work properly within the limited number of hours at 
its disposal. As the many references have already made clear, the 
Talmud Torah is a complementary weekday school, i.e., sessions are 
conducted afternoons and Sundays so as not to conflict with public 
school hours. This gives rise to two diflBculties. The rich curricu- 
lum must be taught in a minimum number of hours, so as not to 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 203 

encroach unduly upon the child's study and play time. In the second 
place each teacher must have suJQScient hours of instruction to enable 
him to earn a livelihood. Only professionally trained teachers are 
qualified to teach in the Talmud Torahs. The standard of scholar- 
ship is far beyond what would be expected of a teacher in the public 
schools. Full time positions require from twenty to twenty-four 
hours of service on the part of the teacher.^ The necessity of crowd- 
ing more than twenty hours into the afternoons of Monday, Tuesday, 
Wednesday and Thursday^ and on Sunday mornings has forced a 
schedule upon the Talmud Torah which requires attendance for some 
of the pupils at late hours; most of the Talmud Torahs are conducted 
up to 8 p. M. and some even as late as 9 p. m. 

The schedule adopted at the Central Jewish Institute endeavors to 
eliminate this condition as well as to arrange the hours in number 
and distribution so as not to interfere unduly with the free time of the 
child. Each teacher has two classes and each class about eight hours 
per week (inclusive of auditorium session). 

The sessions are conducted from 4 to 6 p. m., on Mondays, Tues- 
days, Wednesdays, Thursdays; on Saturdays from 2 to 5 p. m. and 
Sundays, 9 a. m. to 12.30 a. m. The schedule would run as follows: 

Monday 4-6 Tuesday Jt-6 Wednesday i-6 Thursday 4-6 

Class A Class B Class A Class B 

Saturday Sunday 

Class A 2-3:30 Class A 9-10:30 

Sabbath Services 3 :30-4 :30 School Assembly 10 :30-l 1 

Class B 4-6 Class B 11-12:30 

The improvement in time distribution, it will be seen, is due to the 
reduction of the number of sessions per teacher with a consequent 
reduction of the total number of hours from 20 to 16, which must be 
compressed into hours left free from public school, and to the intro- 
duction of Saturday as a school day. Although in the traditional 
Talmud Torah, Saturday is not used as a school day, it is not in dis- 
accord with Jewish thought to 'learn' on the Sabbath. The freedom 
from public school lessons and the opportunity of conducting services 

^The average number of hours of instruction per week per class in the Talmud Torahs 
is about eight, although many classes receive as many as 10 hours and occasionally 
even more. 

^Friday afternoon is too close to the Jewish Sabbath which begins on Friday evening. 



204 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

combine to make Saturday valuable as a day of study. The new 
schedule, which permits the child to have three afternoons free from 
school work and on the other days keeps the children only until six, is 
excellent in comparison with the old schedules followed in the Talmud 
Torahs. Nevertheless, it still presents two difficulties. The children 
must attend school for two hours additional to the public school on 
two days a week and the long school day is not wholly eliminated.^ 

In the second place, even this scheme is hardly feasible for the 
average Talmud Torah. The reduction in the number of sessions 
and total hours allotted to each teacher increases the per capita cost 
of teaching over 50 per cent. For this reason the Central Jewish 
Institute, too, may be forced much against its will to adopt a sched- 
ule which will keep the school open till 7 p. m. 

The difficulties involved in the schedule cannot be ultimately 
solved without a recognition on the part of the state schools that 
sufficient time must be left from the school day for such private 
agencies as are represented by the ethnic schools. The Gary scheme 
has recognized the validity of the principle of correlation, but the 
particular schedule suggested would have been even worse, so far as 
Jewish schools are concerned, than the present scheme.^ As conditions 
are to-day the ethnic schools are placed under a handicap so difficult 
as to be almost prohibitory and some have been led to propose sepa- 
rate schools for the ethnic and religious groups which will give a 
fairer distribution of time between secular and other subjects. In 
fact, the whole argument of Jewish parochial schools is based on this 
question of distribution of time. It is seen here how failure on the 
part of the state to reckon with what may be considered the justffiable 
demands of a group may force the group into an equally unjustifiable 
position. 

The French system where the children are excused on Thursdays for 
religious instruction offers an example of correlation between public 
and other education. Under the prevailing conditions in New York 
City, if the Jewish children who wish to attend Hebrew schools were 
excused two afternoons during the week, a schedule could be worked 

^The younger children have only one hour sessions on the public school days, but 
come four times, Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday instead of two. 
"See Chap. V, pp. 171-2. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 205 

out which would oflFer a satisfactory solution. Such a suggestion 
seems Utopian at present. The various ethnic and religious bodies 
are not suflBciently conscious of the importance of education for the 
retention of the group identity; nor are those who do realize tliis fact 
at one in the acceptance of a weekday school as a solution. With 
such lack of organization of the ethnic and religious viewpoint no 
forceful demand can be made upon the schools of the state. Further- 
more, the prevailing spirit among public school leaders would perhaps 
not favor such a plan. While the minority ethnic groups are expected 
on every occasion to adjust themselves in line with reasonable 
demands of the state, it is questionable whether the state is yet 
amenable to the virtue of noblesse oblige in such matters. The essen- 
tial theoretical point in reference to the schedule is that the 
argument long carried on between Church and State rights in educa- 
tion must receive its solution in a denial of exclusive monopoly for 
either the one or the other and in the acceptance of a conception of 
sovereignty limited by the need of mutual consideration. 

To what degree each should modify its present plan is no endless 
academic question. The debatable grovmd is very narrow. Few, 
if any, of those granting the principle of a double system would en- 
croach very much on the present allotment of time to the state 
schools. The great majority of Jews would be satisfied with an educa- 
tional scheme that devoted eight hours a week to Jewish studies. 
Utilizing Saturday and Sunday, this would mean that the highest 
demand of by far the largest percentage of Jews would be satisfied 
with a schedule that would excuse the child from public school about 
four or five hours a week. Undoubtedly this would not interfere 
with the good or rights of the state; and, were the public educational 
mind ready for such a conception, there would be no real obstacle 
to the attainment of such a solution. The real difficulty is the pro- 
found, if unconscious, belief in the exclusive sovereignty of the state. 

2. Jewish Extension Education 

The intensive curriculum of the Talmud Torah is a development 
from the traditional course of Jewish study, as the name Talmud 
Torah already implies. The necessity of present circumstances and 
modern conditions have entered to modify both content and method; 



206 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

but in the main the basic elements, the central position of book learn- 
ing and classroom method, are still the distinguishing characteristics. 
Although the variety of conditions has led to the development of 
several types of curricula, these basic elements are always repeated. 
In recent years it has become recognized that this single type of 
intensive Jewish instruction for all is not adequate for the conditions 
confronting Jewish life in America. In the old centers of Jewish 
life the traditional custom of giving boys an intensive Jewish literary 
training had a strong hold upon the masses and practically all boys 
were sent to a 'cheder'. Those who could, assimilated the difficult 
course of study. Those who could not, were, nevertheless, not 
deprived of Jewish influence. The Jewish school in the Ghetto, 
though much more intensive than the Talmud Torah in America (it 
was an all day school), was but one element in the Jewish education of 
the child. The home and the whole social environment, language and 
social intercourse were Jewish and there was no active divergent cul- 
ture to lessen the influence they exerted. Even the girls who seldom 
went to school received through the home and through participation 
in Jewish life an education adequate to their Jewish responsibil- 
ities. The transition to conditions of life in America has completely 
changed the situation through the elimination of these spontaneous 
indirect educational influences. In a large and heterogeneous Jewish 
population the pressure formerly exercised by social opinion in the 
well-organized Jewish communities in Eastern European countries is 
no longer felt. The emphasis which the struggling immigrant must 
place upon the economic aspect of his life, the disintegrating influence 
of new and diverging ideas, the presence of the public school usurping 
most of the child's time, together with the extra burden of an addi- 
tional tuition fee in the face of apparently free public schools, are all 
factors which deter many from sending their children to intensive 
Jewish schools. Only twenty-five per cent of the Jewish children of 
school age attend Hebrew schools at any one time. The problem 
thus arises to develop some system of extension education mth small 
per capita cost, which would not take too much of the child's time 
but which would give some modicum of Jewish education to those who 
for one reason or another cannot or do not wish to attend the intensive 
work of the Talmud Torah. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 207 

For adolescents there is no traditional scheme to take the place of 
the educational influence of the general social environment. For the 
young people intensive classroom work is no solution at all except for 
the very few. Even in public education the comparatively small 
number that attend the high schools are motivated in great part by 
an ultimate vocational aim. It is not to be expected that a great 
number of young people will after a day's work or after high school 
hours, with the difficult program of 'home work,' devote themselves 
to Jewish studies which have no 'practical' application. The absence 
of any Jewish educational scheme for adolescents suitable to condi- 
tions in America presents a crucial problem in the task of the per- 
petuation of Jewish life in this country. In this critical period of 
questioning and doubt, when many new desires, interests and loyal- 
ties are awakened, the Jewish loyalty involving some spiritual vision 
and kept at times only through personal sacrifices, becomes very 
difficult to retain. Without providing some educational scheme it 
becomes absurd to expect the Jewish youth not to drift away, with the 
consequent disintegration of Jewish life. 

The parents also no longer have the same opportunities for continu- 
ing their Jewish life through participation. For them, too, is needed 
some agency to acquaint them with the new problems arising out of 
the changed conditions of life. In short, the new situation, that of 
attempting to live a Jewish life outside of the confines of the ghetto, 
has taken from Jewish life the spontaneous and natural influences of a 
permeating Jewish social life and has given rise to the necessity of 
creating some scheme of direct education for the masses. 

It is evident that no classroom work can combat with these prob- 
lems. There have developed in recent years a number of plans of 
Jewish extension education, especially in reference to the problem of 
the children. The most comprehensive of these is the extension 
work planned for children and young people by the Bureau of Jewish 
Education known as the Circle of Jewish Children and the League of 
the Jewish Youth. The plan of extension education carried on in the 
Central Jewish Institute in the work with children and young people 
follows these general schemes. In the work with the parents current 
ideas of Parents' Associations have offered the suggestions. 



208 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

A full description of the extension work is beyond the scope of our 
purpose. The following brief analysis will give an idea of the lines of 
work. Schedules of regular activities, calendars of seasonal events 
and several illustrative programs are presented from which a more 
complete picture may be drawn. 

The Circle of Jewish Children. The work of the Circle of Jewish 
Children is carried on through mass activities centering about the 
celebration of the Jewish Festivals and through supervised club work 
correlated with the festival celebrations. The plan differs from simi- 
lar schemes of mass and club activities in two important ways. In 
the first place, an attempt is made to reach the same child through a 
number of celebrations and record is kept on a cumulative record card 
of the activities in which each member has participated. In the sec- 
ond place, the activities compose a regular curriculum of studies 
carefully planned to make the greatest use of the limited time. 

The organization of members is controlled through the children 
attending the Talmud Torah. Leaders are selected from among 
the brightest and most active pupils. Each leader then finds ten 
playmates in the neighborhood and arranges them into a group. 
These become members of the Circle by signifying their desire to 
join and receiving a button and certificate. By selecting the leaders 
with reference to the block upon which they live, it is possible through 
this scheme of organization to cover an entire neighborhood. The 
leaders themselves form a club or council where they receive instruc- 
tion and training in the proper performance of their duties. 

The leader thus serves as the agent between the school and the 
unaffiliated child. Whenever a holiday celebration takes place, each 
leader receives ten tickets for distribution among the members of his 
or her group. Likewise the holiday story pamphlets, childrens' 
newspaper, ceremonial toys and whatever material of instruction the 
Circle provides are distributed through the leaders. In the same 
way, if a member wishes to join a club or a class in the Hebrew school, 
the leader directs to the proper channel. The leader thus forms an 
inexpensive and effective means of bringing the extension activities 
of the Institute within the reach of the many children of the neighbor- 
hood who do not attend Hebrew schools. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 



209 



THE CIRCLE OF JEWISH CHILDREN 

OflBce open daily — 4 to 6 P. M. — Hoom A 
Sunday— 10 A. M— 12 M. 

Senior Clubs are open to boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 13. 
Junior Clubs are open to boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 10. 



SCHEE 


)ULE OF ACTIVITIES 




FESTIVAL CLUBS 








Choib 








Senior Girls 


Thursday 


5 P.M. 


Auditorium 


Senior Boys 


Thiu-sday 


6 P.M. 


Auditorium 


Dancing 








Senior Girls 


Tuesday 


5 P.M. 


Gymnasium 


Dramatic 








Senior Boys 


Sunday 


3 P.M. 


Room D 


Dancing 








Junior 


Monday 


4 P.M. 


Gymnasium 


Dramatic 








Senior Boys 


Sunday 


1 P.M. 


Room C 


Senior Girls 


Simday 


2 P.M. 


Room A 


BEZALLEL CLUB 








Senior Boys 


Sunday 


1P.M. 


Room B 


MACCABEAN SQUAD 








Senior Girls 


Monday 


6 P.M. 


Gymnasium 


Senior Boys 


Thursday 


6 P.M. 


Gymnasium 


ORCHESTRA 








Senior 


Sunday 


4 P.M. 


Room B 


RED MOGEN DOVID 








Senior Girls 


Wednesday 


4 P.M. 


Room B 


OUTDOOR 








Senior Boys 


Tuesday 


3.30 P. M. 


Park 


SCRAP BOOK 








Junior Boys and Girls 


Tuesday 


4.30 P. M. 


RoomB 


SEWING 








Senior Girls 


Thiursday 


4 P.M. 


Room B 


REPORTERS' CLUB 








Junior Boys and Girls 


Monday 


7 P.M. 


Room C 


STORY HOURS 








Boys and Girls 


Monday 


5-6 P. M. 


Room C 




Thursday 


4-5 P. M. 


Room C 


LEADERS' CONFERENCES 


Monday 


4-5 P. M. 


Room A 




Thursday 


5-6 P. M. 


Room A 


READING AND STUDY 


Open 


Daily 


Room C 


GAMES 


Open 


Daily 


RoomD 



The "Circle Bulletin" appears Sunday 9 A. M. 
(sample schedule of regxtlab activities from program op 1919) 



210 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

The League of the Jewish Youth. The plan of work for the young 
people resembles in general outline the work of the Circle of Jewish 
Children. However, the League of the Jewish Youth is conceived 
of as coordinate in extent with the Jewish community of the city and 
each branch is regarded as one district. In the Circle the local 
district is the unit of active work although here, too, there is coordina- 
tion between various branches and inter-branch activities. The 
organization of the older group is replete with symbolic significance 
and with historical reminiscences. Each district is a Galil (ij>^j); 
each Galil is divided into Tribes (D^t33B') ; each Tribe into Households 
(ninSB'D), etc., and various forms of initiation ceremonies exist for 
the Junior, Intermediate and Senior members. Naturally much more 
initiative is permitted the young people and to a greater extent 
they conduct their own activities. In addition to holiday celebra- 
tions, literature, training groups for 'organizers' and forum for 
discussion of Jewish and civic questions, the young people are given 
opportunity to participate in communal efforts, both Jewish and civic. 
Thus the League has been utilized in drives for Federation members, 
Kehillah, Relief, Restoration Funds, Liberty Loan and Red Cross. 
While dealing mainly with large numbers, the organization is so 
planned that through a series of concentric groups of varying sizes, 
organizers' councils, local councils, city council, inner council, etc., 
the elders, as the directors and supervisors are called, can come in 
close personal contact with the leading spirits among the young 
people to guide them and select for more intensive work those capable 
of leadership. 

The Parents^ Association. No plan of education is complete which 
does not include the parent. Especially is this true in Jewish life, 
where the family is the keystone of the whole communal structure. 
The problem of bridging the gap between the generations cannot be 
solved without the parent. Not only is it necessary to arouse 
interest in the problem of Jewish education. Of equal importance is 
the problem of bringing the parents nearer to their children through 
teaching them the language of the new land and interesting them in 
the general problems of the civic community. To deal with this 
aspect of the work a Parents' Association has been formed which 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 

LEAGUE OF THE JEWISH YOUTH 

OflBce open daily (except Friday) from 8 to 10 P. M. — Room C. 

Senior activities are open to members between the ages of 18 and 21, 
Intermediate activities are open to members between the ages of 15 and 17. 
Junior activities are open to members between the ages of 13 and 15. 



211 



SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES 



FESTIVAL CLUBS 








Choib 
Senior 
Intermediate 


Thursday 
Thursday 


8.80 to 10 P. M. 
7.30 to 8.30 P. M. 


Room B 
Room B 


Dramatic 
Senior 

Intermediate 
Junior 


Sunday 
Sunday 
Simday 


8 to 10 P. M. 
8 to 10 P. M. 
4 to 6 P. M. 


RoomD 
Room A 
Room D 


Orchestra 


Sunday 


8 to 10 P. M. 


Room B 


INTERPRETATIVE DANCING Wednesday 


7.30 to 9 P. M. 


Gymnasium 


POSTER CLUB 


Wednesday 


8 to 10 P. M. 


Room B 


ENTERTAINMENT AND 
DANCE 


Alternate Sun. 


2.30 P. M. 


Gymnasium 


ORGANIZERS' TRAINING 
GROUPS 








Junior Girls 
Junior Boys 
Intermediate Boys 
Intermediate Girls 
Senior 


Alternate Wed 
Tuesday 
Tuesday 
Wednesday 
Alternate Wed 


. 7 to 8.30 P. M. 

7 to 8.30 P. M. 

8 to 9.30 P. M. 
8 to 9:30 P. M. 

. 7 to 8.30 P. M. 


RoomE 
RoomE 
RoomE 
RoomF 
RoomE 


LOCAL CABINET MEETING 


Saturday 


8 to 10 P. M. 


RoomE 


CITY CABINET MEETING 


2d Saturday 


8 to 10 P M. 


RoomE 



EDITORIAL BOARD— Hed Ha-Galil 1st & 3d Sat. 8 to 10 P. M. Room E 

ELDERS' TRAINING GROUP 1st and 3d Sun. 8 to 10 P. M. Social Rooms 

JEWISH FORUM Friday Evening Social Rooms 

"Hed Ha-Galil" — Bulletin of the L. J. Y. A. appears on the 15th of each month. 

(sample schedule of regular activities from program op 1918) 



212 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

begins with the natural interest that the parents have in the work of 
their children and leads out into Jewish communal and general civic 
activities of concern to the parents themselves. Monthly meetings 
are held for the discussion of the problems of the school and the 
questions of wider Jewish and civic interest. On bi-weekly occasions, 
Sunday afternoons, the parents of the children of a selected class 
observe model lessons and discuss the work of their own children with 
teachers and principal. These meetings have their social aspect and 
the parents act as hosts. On these as well as on other social occasions 
the mothers contribute cakes of their own baking, mix the punch, etc. 
A cooking class is led by one of the parents who has a good knowledge 
of Jewish cooking and understands something of the elements of 
dietetics and correct form of table service. A study circle in Jewish 
subjects is carried on weekly. Furthermore, through the Associa- 
tion the parents are brought in contact with the general activities 
such as classes for English to foreigners, public lectures, Red Cross 
work, etc. Pains are taken to make the parents feel at home in the 
building. A room has been appropriately furnished as the meeting 
place for the parents and a "social evening" is conducted once a 
week, the parents taking turns in acting as hosts. All of the activ- 
ities are conducted by the Parents' Association, the institution assist- 
ing with the plans and subsidizing certain of the activities. These 
activities generally involve only comparatively small numbers. The 
large numbers of parents are reached through activities centering 
about the Holy Days and Festivals. The parents conduct their own 
services on the High Holy Days in the auditorium of the Institute. 
In addition every Festival is celebrated through some appropriate 
entertainment as in the case of the children's and youths' organi- 
zations. 

Each age, then, has its separate organization, its festival celebra- 
tions and its special reading and meeting room. All the work, how- 
ever, is connected by the organic purpose of the Institute, and there 
are occasions when the diflFerent ages are brought together. The 
Institute regards the family, not the individual, as the pupil. The 
attempt always is to reach the several members of the same family 
rather than to scatter energy amongst single individuals. One of the 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 213 

main principles upon which the Central Jewish Institute bases its 
work is the belief that only by dealing with the family as a whole 
can the integrity of Jewish life be preserved. 

Jewish Holiday Celebrations. The Festival celebrations may be 
regarded as the nucleus of the extension curriculum. The work of 
many of the clubs in the Circle and in the League consists of preparing 
for them and much of the work of the Parents' Association centers 
about the Jewish holidays. 

The holiday celebration is conceived of as a unit, but separate 
entertainments are conducted for children, the young people, and 
parents. In the entertainment of the Circle of Jewish Children, two 
performances are generally given, one for the older children and one 
for the younger. In these entertainments, the children who attend 
the School and the members of the Circle are brought together. 
Every number on the program is designed to bring out some signifi- 
cant aspect of the holiday. The ceremonial, historical and ethical 
significances are each treated either directly or indirectly. The play, 
tableau, illustrated lecture, and song are utilized. Usually the entire 
assembly is taught a holiday song, and pamphlets telling the story 
of the holidays are distributed. While most of the program is rend- 
ered in English, some Yiddish and Hebrew is introduced, especially 
in songs and in recitations. 

The holiday program of the League is similar in scope. The chair- 
man is generally the president of the branch of the League of the 
Jewish Youth. Addresses both by one of the young people and by an 
'elder' of the community are a feature. 

The Parents' Evening is made up of selections from the program 
of the League and the Circle. In addition, a parent and a member 
from the community at large deliver addresses on some timely topic or 
Jewish community problem. One of these addresses is always in 
Yiddish. An oflScer of the Parents' Association acts as chairman, 
and the parents themselves act as ushers. 

In the entertainments for the young people and the parents pro- 
grams are generally printed which, in addition to giving the arrange- 
ment of the program, also bear some educational message. The 
history or significance of the holiday is brought out and correlated with 
some event of civic or current Jewish interest. 



214 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

CIRCLE OF JEWISH CHILDREN ENTERTAINMENTS 

Sunday, Decembeb 1, at 10 a. m., jor Juniohs 
Monday, Decembeb 2, at 4 p. \i..,foT Seniors 



PROGRAM 

1. America ; Avdience 

2. Chairman's Remarks Miss Leah Konowitz, Chairman 

S. Lighting op the Candles A member of the T. T. Choir 

Haneros Halalu Talmud Torak Choir 

Mo'oz Tzur 

4. Recitation: Judas Maccabeus A member of the Junior Dramatic Club 

5. Chantjkah Dance Dancing Class 

6. Recttation: Ten little boys Jr. Dramatic Club 

1. Mass Singing Choir and Audience 

Circle Song 
Auf' n Pripitchik 

8. A Chanttkah Story Mr. Mordecai M. SoUea 

9. The Mother of Martyrs (A one act play) Sr. Dramatic Club 

10. Hatikvah Audience 

(ebom chanukah program 1918) 



PARENTS' ENTERTAINMENT 

Saturday, May 18th, 1918, at 8.30 P. M. 



PROGRAM 

1. The Stab-Spangled Banner Audience 

i. Introductory Remarks Dr. Simon Tannenbaum, Chairman 

3. "Dos Lied von Brot" Choir, The Circle of Jermsh Children 

4. Recitation: El Hatsipor — Bialik Milton Jacobs 

5. Shevuoth Dance Junior Dancing Club 

6. Address: The League of the Jewish Youth Emanuel Hirshberger 

7. "Pageant of Old Israel" Choir, The Circle of Jewish Children 

8. Recitation: "Zamd und Shtern" Adolph Tannenbaum 

9. Play: "Ruth" Dramatic Club, The League of the Jewish Youth 

10. Hatikvah Audience 

(from shevuoth program 1918) 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 2l5 

THE LEAGUE OF THE JEWISH YOUTH 

YORKVILLE GaLIL 



PROGRAM 

1. The National Anthems of the Allies C. J. I. Choir 

America, Rule Brittania, The Marseillaise, Hatikvah. 

2. Recitation: "Peace" (Isaiah, Ch. II, vs. 2-5) Rose Goldman 

3. Sholom Aleichem C. J, I. Choir 

4. Chairman's Remarks George Hyman, President YorkviUe Galil L. J. Y. 

5. Lighting op the Chanukah Lights Simon Yudelowsky 

Haneros Halalu 

Mo'oz Tzur C. J. I. Chmr 

6. Tableatjx 

a. Mattathias 

Recitation Rose Goldman 

"All Who are Faithful Follow Me" 
Cast of Characters, etc. 

b. Battle of Beth Heron 

Recitation Emanuel Hirshberger 

"Let OtTB Watchword be the Help of God" 
Cast of Characters, etc. 

7. Vocal Solo Miss Jennie Friedman 

"Oi Ihr Kleineke Lichtelach" 

Words by Morris Rosenfeld; Music by Miss Sadie Cheifetz 

8. The Dance of the Candles Downtovm Galil, L. J. Y. A. 

9. Chanukah, Ot Chanukah C. J. I. Choir 

10. Hannah (A one act play) Dramatic Club, C. J. I. 

Place: Throne Room in Palace of Antiochus, King of Syria. 
Time: In the Days of the Maccabees. 
Cast of Characters, etc. 

11. Mass Singing C.J.I. Choir, Audience 

"Hear the Voice of Israel's Elders" 

12. Address Mr. Isaac B. Berkson 

13. Hatikvah Audience 

(from chanukah festival 1918) 



216 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

American Holiday Celebrations. Just as the work in the Talmud 
Torah is correlated with reference to Jewish life in America, so, too, 
the festival celebrations are correlated with American ideas and with 
current events. In addition to these references to American life in 
distinctly Jewish festivals, an attempt has been made to celebrate 
the American holidays as the Jewish holidays are celebrated, i.e., 
with the purpose of bringing out their spiritual significance. 

The first of these was the celebration of "Lincoln Evening" in 1918, 
the program of which is presented here. American folk songs were 
utilized in the same way that the Jewish folk songs are used in the 
Jewish Festivals. The address of the chairman dealt with the grow- 
ing Americanism, as illustrated in quotations from significant Ameri- 
can documents. The concluding number was an address on Lincoln 
based on Professor Schechter's masterly essay, interpreting the 
character of Lincoln with added richness through the Jewish apper- 
ceptive mass. As an American holiday celebration the program 
presented undoubtedly valuable elements, in its dignity and serious- 
ness of the conception of Americanism. 

This type of program illustrates a principle not sufficiently grasped 
by the current notions in Americanization programs. The American 
holidays can assume untold meaning to the immigrant when ap- 
proached from his own apperceptive mass and through the ideals 
with which he is acquainted in his own culture. Such celebrations 
as these give the immigrant a real kinship with the ideals underlying 
American life. In a similar manner, Washington's birthday. 
Thanksgiving, and Columbus Day have been celebrated with ap- 
propriate programs. 



3. Social, Civic and General-Activities 

In addition to the specific purpose of conducting definitely Jewish 
educational activities the Central Jewish Institute also serves as a 
general social centre, welcoming every activity which promotes the 
physical, social and civic well-being of the community. The types 
of work carried on under this head of general activities are varied and 
resemble the recreational and educational activities usually carried 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 217 

IS! !^mericant£(m anb tDfjat hota it bemanb of usi? 

Can it demand that we deny who we are? Is it possible that it should ask us to 
become estranged from our fathers and mothers? Shall it ask us to forget the People 
from whom we are sprung? 

No! For Americanism is something positive, not negative; it demands a loyalty, 
not a disloyalty. 

America demands that we give to it what is finest and most profound in our Peo- 
ple's life. What these things are we have sought to inscribe on the emblem of our 
League. "Torah, Avodah, Gemiluth Hasodim," symbolize for us all of those spiritual 
ideals and that spirit of service which we have struggled to develop throughout the 
forty centuries of our history. 

But in no less degree does America demand that we also take from it what is finest 
and most profound in its own life. And we are gathered here tonight for just this 
purpose — to gain a little deeper insight into the great things for which America 
stands. 

This, then, is the confession of faith of our League of the Jewish Youth. 

Not by negation and neglect of our Jewish souls, but by contributing what is finest 
in us to America and by taking the finest in America unto ourselves can we become 
loyal to America. 

PROGRAM 

1. Stab Spangled Banner Audience 

2. OxjR Conception of Americanism 

The League of the Jewish Youth, recited by Rose Goldman 

3. Introduction of the Chairman .... Daniel Cogan, Pres. Inter-Club Council 

4. Introductory Address Abraham A. Silberberg 

Chairman, Social Activities Committee 

5. Violin Solo Concerto No. 2 Leonard 

Philip Geller 

6. Recitation: "The Jesters Recantation" Mr. Philip Adler 

iSwanee River 
Old Black Joe Miss Rose Rabbach 
Comin' Thru the Rye 

8. Address: "A Jewish Conception of Lincoln" .Rabbi Jacob Kohn 

9. Hatikvah Audience 

Miss Sadie Cheifbtz at the piano 
10. Dancing 

(from LINCOLN PROGRAM 1918) 



218 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

This little hut was the cradle of one of the great sons of men, a man of singular, delightful, vital 
genius, who presently emerged upon] the great stage of the nation's history, gaunt, shy, ungainly, but 
dominant and majestic; a natural ruler of men, himself inevitably the central figure of the great plot. 

No man can explain this, but every man can see how it demonstrates the vigor of democracy, where 
every door is open, in every hamlet and country side, in city and wilderness alike, for the ruler to emerge 
when he will and claim his leadership in the free life. Such are the authentic proofs of the validity of 
democracy. 

Lincoln, like the rest of us, was put through the discipline of the world — a very rough and exacting 
discipline for every man who would know what he is about in the midst of the world's affairs; but his 
spirit got only its schooling there. It did not derive its character from the experiences which brought 
it to its full revelation. The test of every American must always be, not where he is, but what he is. 
That also, is the essence of democracy, and is the moral of which this place is most gravely expressive. 
— President Woodrow Wilson's address at Hodgenville, Ky., accepting birthplace of Abraham 
Lincoln as a gift to the Nation. 

1787 

We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, in- 
sure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the 
blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the 
United States of A merica. 

Preamble of the Constitution of the United States. 

1823 

The occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests 
of the United States are involved, that the American continents by the free and independent condition 
which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth, not to be considered as subjects for future 
colonization by any European powers. 

We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and 
those Powers, to declare, that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system of 
government to any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safety. 

James Monroe: Message to Congress, December 2, 1823. 

1858 

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure perma- 
nently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house 
to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. 

Abraham Lincoln: From speech delivered at Springfield, III., June 16, 1858. 

1917 

We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of fake pretense about them, to fight thus for the 
ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German people included: for the 
rights of nations, great and small, and the privilege of men everywhere, to choose their way of life and 
obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested 
foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no do- 
minion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall 
freely make. We are but one of champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when 
these rights have been made secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them. 

Woodrow Wilson: Address delivered at a Joint Session of the Two Houses of Congress, 
April 21. IQ17. 

(from LINCOLN PROGRAM, 1918) 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 219 

on by social settlements. Their general character and scope are well 
known and need perhaps no more than to be mentioned. 

Club Work. As in most social settlements, social and literary 
clubs for young people are conducted. These have their meetings, 
dances, debates, entertainments, athletic affairs, etc. A G. O. 
(general organization) exists in which the various clubs have repre- 
sentatives and in which are discussed and arranged matters of inter- 
est to all the clubs. The Institute puts whatever facilities it has at the 
disposal of the clubs and directs them in their work by suggesting 
programs and activities; but it in no way interferes with the autono- 
mous organization. These clubs cooperate with the League of the 
Jewish Youth and are a binding link between the Jewish extension 
work described above and the general activities. 

Jewish Societies. The building is used as a meeting place also by a 
number of Jewish organizations, not necessarily of the neighborhood, 
which are interested in various phases of Jewish communal life or in 
Jewish movements. These include clubs and societies interested in 
Jewish questions from the viewpoint of study, such as Zionist socie- 
ties and also adult organizations for various philanthropic and 
communal purposes. 

Civic Education. The Institute cooperates with civic agencies in 
bringing to the neighborhood educational activities of various 
nature. Under this head the Board of Education conducts public 
lectures and a class in English to foreigners. Lectures in citizenship, 
in problems of sanitation, sex-hygiene and the like are given from time 
to time under the auspices of various societies. A civic forum is 
conducted on Sunday afternoons. In all of the civic educational 
activities the non-Jews of the neighborhood are invited and attend. 

Occasional Events. Besides housing these regular activities, the 
building is used for a great many occasional events of many sorts, 
such as concerts, recitals, dances, banquets, conventions, and cele- 
brations representing a host of social and educational activities. 



220 THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

Summarizing, we may say that the work of the Central Jewish 
Institute can be thought of as being included within three concentric 
circles. The inner one, which forms the nucleus, deals with intensive 
Jewish education and is based upon the work of the Talmud Torahs. 
The outer one deals with the general civic, social and educational 
activities and follows closely the work of recreational and social 
settlements. The connecting circle, including the extension activi- 
ties, is a phase which has no embodiment in a separate institution 
but rises out of the necessity of relating the other two phases; it 
is a consequence of looking upon the task as a problem of adjust- 
ment. 

The importance of the function of the series of activities included in 
extension work, the Circle of Jewish Children, the League of the Jew- 
ish Youth and the Parents' Association, is as yet little understood. It 
is the linking force between the specific Jewish purpose and the gen- 
eral social activities. From the Jewish point of view it is the means 
of interesting those whose Jewish interests are lukewarm or for whom 
intensive class work is not adapted. It is the agency through which 
those who have little contact with Jewish life are brought together 
with those who have more intimate knowledge. The children of the 
Circle are brought into contact with the children of the Talmud Torah 
and the regular members of the League, with the more active leaders 
and organizers. On the other hand, those who come to the Institute 
primarily through their Jewish interests are brought into contact 
with wider community interests and civic affairs. The extension 
work thus forms a clearing house for the interchange and adjustment 
of the various forces. It is in the further development of the exten- 
sion activities where the idea of adjustment is emphasized that we can 
expect to find the Jewish Community Center making its characteris- 
tic contribution. F^ 

Few of the many elements that have gone to make up the work of 
the Institute are new. But the similarity to other institutions in 
certain phases should not be permitted to obscure what is essential 
to the plan. The many activities are not a combination merely; 
the work has been unified by the main piupose. The attitude is 
distinctly not that of many social settlements and centers which 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 221 

disclaim any purpose of their own, but are willing to provide whatso- 
ever activities the neighborhood requests. The Institute is glad to 
offer its facilities; but in addition it has its own central idea which 
forms the criterion by which to decide upon what activities its money 
and energies should be expended. The basic thought of the institu- 
tion, to preserve Jewish life in harmony with American conditions, 
controls the general scope of work and affects the manner of treating 
subjects and activities. Nor is the Institute to be looked upon as a 
compromise between Talmud Torah and social center. The word 
'compromise' suggests a middle course not wholly satisfactory to 
either side. The aim of the Jewish Community Center must be 
synthetic, its Talmud Torah should maintain the highest standard 
possible without relinquishing the other elements demanded by the 
new conditions. Without this central emphasis upon the distinct 
aim of preserving Jewish life the Central Jewish Institute could not 
serve as an illustration of the type of educational agency through 
which the 'Community' theory can become effective. 

The 'Community' theory of adjustment, then, means concretely 
that Jewish life in this country must depend mainly upon the exist- 
ence of a sufficiently large number of Jewish centers built in the main 
along the lines of the modernized Talmud Torah suggested in the plan 
of the Central Jewish Institute. Jewish life, of course, will contain 
many more elements. A certain amount of local contiguity will be 
basic to any community spirit. The Jewish family, the synagogue 
and philanthropic institutions must remain a part of any system of 
Jewish life developed in this country. Theories will differ as to what 
is regarded in them as most effective in preserving and fostering a 
significant Jewish life. Those who regard Judaism as a religion 
merely would logically make the synagogue or temple the central 
agency. The nationalists and those who emphasize the racial 
distinctiveness of the Jew would naturally tend to favor schemes 
which allot definite territories and provide for some measure of politi- 
cal autonomy. The 'Community' theory, emphasizing the cultural 
and spiritual heritage of the group, makes the school central, and in 
the conditions confronting us in American life it would be necessary to 
add that the school must complement, not supplant the public school. 



THEORIES OF AMERICANIZATION 

Our discussion began with a theoretical argument based upon the 
demands of a democratic mode of thought. What place has the Jewish 
group in our democracy? May it retain its identity or must it fuse 
entirely with the total group? Second, if it may retain its identity, 
under what limitations and through what agencies may it do so ? We 
may now face about and ask these questions in a more concrete form. 
Shall ethnic communities be permitted to carry on such activities as are 
implied in the lines of work conducted at the Central Jewish Institute? 
Are such activities in accord unth the aims of democratic America? 
Perhaps few will give negative answers to these questions. On the 
other hand, will such activities be adequate to prevent the ethnic group 
from disintegrating? Will they be adequate to conserve for the indi- 
vidual member of the ethnic group and through him for the community 
at large the valuable elements in the group heritage? 

The answer of the writer is implied in the recommendation. But, 
undoubtedly, the facts are not at hand which may permit us to make 
a scientific prediction. The Jews have had the longest experience in 
preserving a group heritage, though separated from their land. 
Yet the same conditions, psychological as well as material, have never 
confronted them. It is proposed that they live with their neighbors, 
not in ghettoes; democracy is spoken of; there is a sound desire to 
make a harmonious adjustment; the concept of cultural nationality 
has been developed; the homeland will be rebuilt; new events stress 
the importance of an international outlook — the combination of new 
circumstances and new ideas must make him pause who would wish 
to prophecy. 

However, one thing seems clear : only the method proposed — in its 
main aspects — can serve in the conditions confronting us in America 
as a satisfactory solution for the development of a sound and normal 
Jewish life. Otherwise Jewish life in America must disintegrate; 
or become irrelevant, as in the petrified ceremonialism of American 
orthodoxy or the disembodied phrases of American Reform; or be- 
come narrowed and inward, as in the parochial outlook of the Mizrachi 
or the racial nationalism of the Poale Zion. Of irrelevancies, sup- 
pressions, and abnormalities Jewish life has had enough in the last 
two thousand years of ghetto. If it is impossible to develop in 
America a sound Jewish life which reckons with the environment. 



THE CENTRAL JEWISH INSTITUTE 223 

it would be best to allow the forces of assimilation to run their course. 
We would arrive, then, at the position of Tvhin ''^ijIK'O (those who 
negate the diaspora) who look to Palestine alone for the continuance of 
Jewish life. All energies would need to be turned to the upbuilding 
of a sound, healthy and significant Jewish life in Palestine. Under 
such conditions Jewish life might indeed be preserved; but it would be 
deprived of its international organization fraught with so much signifi- 
cance and might even tend to be narrowed again to the limitations 
of a nationalistic cult. In this disintegration of Jewish life in the 
diaspora not only the Jews, but America too, in common with other 
countries, would undoubtedly sustain a cultural and spiritual loss. 

A solution of our problem harmonious with basic principles be- 
comes imperative, not alone because we love our people and cherish 
its traditions, not alone because we recognize our duty to America 
and appreciate its great cultural possibilities, but in a profoundly 
moral sense also because we are beginning to grasp the significance 
that a proper adjustment of the foreign ethnic groups in our midst 
may have for the relations of one nation to another, in raising the 
basis of national life from a materialistic to a spiritual plane, in 
transmuting its very essence from the gross metal of economic im- 
perialism to the pure gold of cultural self-determination. And in 
this development of a new conception of nationality, with its impli- 
cations for the New World order, there is a part to play, not only 
for the Jewish group, be it understood, but for every ethnic com- 
munity in America which has transcended the limitations of national 
fetichism and has caught the vision of a universal humane ideal. 



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